Dear Sara: It happened: The last “single” girl in my friend group got engaged tonight. She and her fiancé had been together for more than two years and live together, so I was expecting it. The other couples in the group all got engaged within the past year (including one ex, for whom I long had unrequited feelings). But now I am truly the only single one left — and do I ever feel like I don’t fit in. I am not dating at the moment — I tried last winter, met a few duds, and decided to take a break since I wasn’t feeling open to it. I would like to be, but I’m just not. Plus, although all of these engaged girls are eager to hear my dating stories, they’ve mostly forgotten how hard it is to be “out there”–or they never really struggled with the dating scene to begin with. I am sad, and I am lonely, and I am tired of first dates. I’d love to be planning my own wedding, but that just makes me sound marriage-obsessed! — E

Dear E: I don’t think you’re marriage-obsessed. I think you’re a human being who wants to spend time with other people who understand you. So that puts you in a pool of about 99 percent of us, I’m guessing. (more…)