Posted by Onely in Bad Onely Activities, Everyday Happenings, Food for Thought.
Tags: dying alone, falling on stairs, singles stereotypes
This is a follow-up post to Lisa’s piece about the importance of support networks in old age. We’ve all heard the stereotype that if you’re single, you risk dying “alone” in a small apartment and being eaten by your pets. I just wanted to point out that even if you are happily married after almost forty years, you can still die alone.
My parents have been married for thirty-seven years and still love each others’ company. They enjoy relatively good health and we’re a fortunate family all around. That said, recently on my first day back home for vacation, my mom fell off the attic stairs and broke her knee in quite a dramatic fashion. She couldn’t even sit up, the pain was so nauseating and intense. I was there to call 911 and, per the operator’s instructions, shut Charlie the cat in the bathroom where he wouldn’t be underfoot for the paramedics (or eat my mom).
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Posted by Onely in Uncategorized.
Tags: bella depaulo, dying alone, dying single, eaten by cats, myth, sex and the city, Singled Out
Remember the Sex in the City episode where Miranda almost chokes to death while alone in her apartment? In the aftermath, she fills her cat’s bowl to overflowing so that, should she choke again, the animal won’t feed on her bloated corpse. I watched this episode and felt the exact empathy and horror the producers wanted me to feel. But in this Onely venue I feel compelled to rethink Miranda’s situation:
1) If I were lying there on the floor dead and my cats were hungry, I would want them to eat me, of course. (more…)
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Posted by Onely in book review, Reviews, Singled Out.
Tags: bella depaulo, dying alone, eaten by cats, sex and the city, single mythology, Singled Out, singlism
DePaulo, Bella. Singled Out, How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006
(This is an ongoing, serial review, continued from an earlier post)
In Singled Out, DePaulo explores the myth of singlehood, “You Will Grow Old Alone and You Will Die in a Room By Yourself Where No One Will Find Your For Weeks”.
“How could marriage possibly provide insurance against dying alone? (more…)
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