Random Encounters

Part of living the TSV is dealing with random conversations about your marital status, or rather, your lack of being married. I've gotten quite good at shrugging these things off with a, "I'm enjoying living God's plan for me right now." End conversation. But sometimes, people just don't stop.

Take my landlord. From the first time I met her to pick up my keys, her first question was....are you married? It has been her only question since then. Recently, when I needed to re-sign my lease, I did so at her place of employment. She's a perfectly pleasant, somewhat older Chinese lady. And this is how the conversation went:

Me: Hi, I'm here to sign my lease! Your husband left a message.

Her: Oh! Hi. I not recognize you. You get skinny. Look tired. You still work?

Me: Yes, still working. Long hours recently.

Her: Oh, no good. I no recognize you....too tired.

Me: I know. I'm glad to be re-signing my lease, though! It's nice to live close to my office.

Her: You still no married?

Me: No, I still live there by myself.

Her: Oh...no married. Why you no married? Why you not meet nice boy?

Me: I don't know...maybe I work too much.

Her: Not work so much. Meet nice boy. Get married.

Me: Thank you for letting me re-sign.

Her: You stay until get married.

Me: Umm...great. I need to get going. Have a great weekend.

Suffice it to say, it was not one of my shining moments. You see, if I genuinely didn't want to be married, I would be able to say so. And as funny as the encounter was, she was asking really difficult questions--like, why haven't I met a nice boy. It was a humorous reminder to always have faith in the plan.

The Transitional Single Vocation

So, this is my new blog, in which I will extend to you my adventures as I live out the transitional single vocation.

What is the transitional single vocation? Well, first off, I'm using the word in a Catholic sense. For Catholics, a vocation is how we are called to live out God's plan for us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

"The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. This vocation takes a personal form since each of us is called to enter into the divine beatitude; it also concerns the human community as a whole."

Important thing about vocations--we each have one! How cool is that? Well, it's pretty cool until you have to figure it out. Or you are waiting to live it out. Or something like. For Catholics, there are three vocations: priesthood/religious life, married life, and the single life.

The priesthood is for men who wish to serve the Church--after the Sacrament of Holy Orders, priests are able to say the Mass and bring us the Eucharist (the Body and Blood of Christ). The religious life is another way in which men or women serve Christ and His Church in a special way. The married life and the single life are pretty self explanatory.

So what is the Transitional Single Vocation (TSV)? Well, it's what I like to call myself. I don't have a calling to be a religious sister in the Church; in fact, I know that I'm supposed to be married! That's my vocation. Alas, I'm missing a critical piece--the man I'm supposed to marry. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there, single and waiting to be married. This blog is my attempt to chronicle the adventures of my living of the TSV!