I have an aunt that I love very much, but she's started more than one story about a bitter female coworker or friend with "I mean, I'm sorry she didn't get what she expected out of life, because she never married or had children -" only to look at me and remember that I too fall in that category.

What I want to respond (though i haven't yet) is that she was horribly abused by her husband (my blood uncle) for their 27 years of marriage, and that none of her 3 children will speak to her anymore. No guarantees indeed, especially with this generation, that seems more willing to bail on their parents than the generations that came before.

Anyway, I hope the myth of the bitter aging spinster will die a deserved death, especially since research shows single women are the happiest subgroup.