That's Ms. Jones to You!

Reading a post by one of my favorite fellow bloggers about the notion of "keeping up with the Joneses" got me thinking...

I'm surrounded by Joneses. They're everywhere. They are my friends and relatives, my neighbors, my co-workers, my co-workers' friends and neighbors. The area where I live is an upper- to upper- middle class suburb of a large U.S. city. Lots of cul-de-sacs, McMansions, and shiny SUV's to be found here...

In this land of Joneses, I am somewhat out of place. Or, I should say, I am made to feel somewhat out of place on an almost daily basis. As a 34 year old divorced woman, living alone in a house with 2 dogs, I get asked/told almost daily, "Don't you want to have kids?" or "You'd make a great mom!" or "When do you think you'll get married and start a family?"

You see, the Joneses look at an unmarried woman of my age (a whopping 34) with pity - almost as if there is something "wrong" with me and I am to be felt sorry for. I have a boyfriend, who also has his own house. We have our own place and our own space, and for now, we like it that way.

The Joneses I know (both the Mr.'s and the Mrs.'s) are always on the prowl for the latest and greatest - whether it be SUV, flat-screen TV, Coach handbag, golf clubs.

The Joneses I know have beach houses, stainless steel appliances, front loading washers.

Their children play soccer and baseball and lacrosse and football. They have black labs or golden retrievers as their family pet of choice.

The Joneses have a swimming pool, a large fancy deck with a barbecue grill, and a shed.

Me on the other hand...I have a small home with modest hand-me-down furnishings, a fenced yard for my 2 crazy rescued terrier mutts- one of which is blind, the other of which looks like a ragamuffin - to run in, a compact car, appliances from the 1970's in shades of harvest gold and avocado green. On my slab patio I have a picnic table and several lawn chairs. My basement gets water often, and my attic needs insulation. A McMansion it is not, but it is mine.

I can sleep in on Saturdays, leave my dirty clothes on the floor, and eat ice cream for breakfast if I want. I stay up reading until 3 am, do my ironing naked, and watch a 24 hour marathon of The Twilight Zone without leaving my house.

A lot of people look at me and assume that I am "alone" or lonely. Nothing could be further from the truth. In addition to the wonderful circle of girlfriends that I have and treasure, I have my amazing boyfriend and family close by. I am very active with hobbies, including horseback riding, working out, and shopping (yes, shopping is a hobby!). I volunteer several times a month with a group that does pet therapy visitations to nursing homes and hospitals. I have a career that I love, that keeps me quite busy and stimulated. Rarely does a day go by that I do not do at least one of the following: have lunch, cocktails, or dinner with a girlfriend, go to visit a friend or my family, see my boyfriend, go out for a fun evening. My social calendar is usually over-booked, to the point, where I sometimes decline invitations simply because I have another engagement, or plain just don't feel like going to another "thing" .

The nice thing is...if I have a day where I just want to close the door and have some "me" time, I can do that too. I admit, I have some hermit-like tendencies at times, where I just want to hunker down with some good television, junk food, and my fur babies with my face slathered with mud mask and just shut everything off from the outside world.

So...as much as people may think that I should want or try to "keep up with the Joneses", I have to wonder, could the Joneses keep up with me? Somehow, I doubt it...