I visited with a couple of my single friends today, and it got me to thinking again about yesterday’s post. I’ve mentioned before that my son’s nanny is divorced. She’s the one with the husband who got their fertility specialist pregnant. She’s been single for years now, and I’ve rarely seen anyone so happy.

I go to her house and I see a home that’s perfect for its owner. She’s obviously so content and at peace with her life, I wonder if adding a husband would make things better or worse.

Later on I went to see a good friend of mine who’s a single mother of a 9-month old. She doesn’t get child support from her ex, and by her own definition, she’s dirt poor. She also seems to be incredibly happy — far happier now than she ever was before she split up from her ex, or even before she met him. Maybe it’s motherhood that suits her so well, but I see so much more joy in her life than I ever saw before.

There are times when I wonder what that kind of life would be like. I wonder what it would be like to have exclusive domain of a household, to be the one who makes all the decisions, the one who doesn’t have to ask anybody for their input. While I’m delighted with the life I have, I do wonder what the other side is like.