It’s true. Love is everywhere around us.
You don’t have to look hard to get it.

But for love to be PURE, the kind of love we all dream of, it has to be free. Even the legendary Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh instructed us to love in such a way that the other person feels free.

Yet how many of us still believe in possession? How many people still believe that for love to be real, we must hunt it down, beat it into submission, make it promise it will never leave us, then force it to sign a binding agreement? Is that love pure? That isn’t love at all.

There are many lonely people out there who firmly believe in contractual love. After all, that is exactly what church and state still prescribe. The sanctity of marriage is still of utmost importance. But marriage is simply a binding agreement, and a spouse, only a willing participant. Is that enough?

Not for me. I am neither a hopeless romantic, nor a pessimist. I simply want more out of life. Much, much more!

I want a soulmate, and I understand I won’t find him playing the online dating roulette. I want my equal, and judging by how much I have grown, I am willing to wait longer to find someone just my size. I want an adventurer, a lover, a fine wine aficionado. I want a globetrotter, a dreamer. I want someone beautiful inside and out. So, you see, I’m not willing to settle for just a husband.

Someone like that, is very much worth waiting for. And, I firmly believe in having a lot of fun along the way. All the men I have dated over the years have a few positive qualities I could enjoy. But I knew myself well enough to know when to move on. No, I am not sorry at all. I missed out on nothing.

Since my single life began, dating has been an excellent adventure. I have discovered the beauty of playing with the players, the true friendships grown out of friends with benefits, the wonders of dating people who are totally not for me. I have traveled a lot, had fun with the devil. Older and wiser, I have learned a lot about life, and one thing I know, I have absolutely no regrets.

I do feel sorry for friends who are still waiting. Waiting for that Match.com date number 121 to be the one. Waiting for that guy who promised to call them, but never did. The “good girls” we were all taught to be, who waited patiently, and let life pass them by. They are the ones now settling for less.