Yes I'm over 35, never married, and have no children. Stop asking me...

1. Why are you not married yet? (if single) Or When are you getting married? (If you are in a couple but not married)
2. Why don’t you have children? (more so if you are part of a D.I.N.K.s)

Typically, the questions are asked at family or social gatherings where someone, usually grandma or grandpa, will yell out the question for all to hear. You quickly start to feel as you have just become the piñata at the party. Better yet, you are still in the room during said conversation, but nonetheless eveyone talks about you as if you are not there, and like all this conjecture is supposed to make you feel better.

Sometimes the answer is just simply, “I haven’t met the right person”. You are really frustrated as to why that special someone hasn’t materialized into your life yet especially since you have been really trying. When my 35th birthday came and I was still single without a sweetie pie, I had a sad cloud hanging over me because I just did not understand how I still had not found someone. I mean, I had like 20 years to practice and search, so you figure that something has to have happened by then.

After 35 the pressure is so on because, well, for the ladies, the time to biologically procreate is coming to a close. People are worried that your eggs are going to shrivel up before any of them get a chance to be spermeated. And for both sexes, you should be married by the time you’re 35 because some rule says so. What that rule is, I don’t know, but there must be some kind of rule or else people wouldn’t be asking all the time “Why aren’t you married?” “When are you going to get married?” “Can I help you find someone to marry?”

For some, the answer may just be, "I don't want to get married." Heavan forbid you make that declararion out loud because then the parade of judgment and finger pointing starts. Some people start to feel sorry for you. Some people theorize that you just need to find the right guy/gal. Some will give you a rosary and say "Here, praying will help you want to get married."

Same thing goes for the baby track especially if you are married. Again, there is some rule that states that all married people must have babies. It’s in some communal rulebook somewhere, most likely in socially-correct-land.