I just had to hear yet another men-are-so-mean-and-they-should-all-die-of-a-slow-and-painful-death rant from one of my single friends. She's proclaimed herself to be 'The Ultimate Loser Magnet' and she's kind of right.

For some reason she seems to collect this incredibly long series of 'Made in Hell' love stories. It all started many years ago when her husband-to-be confessed to her that he was actually gay and was moving out of their apartment to move in with his new boyfriend.

Whereas I understand her 100% and I know how bad she feels and she will always have my support, she said something that annoyed me beyond words: apparently she's very jealous of me because I found Mr Right when I was very young and I was spared of all the horrible dates she's had to endure so far. She also said that it's because my husband is Mr Right that my marriage's so successful.

I'll never tire of saying that there is no such thing as Mr Right. There has never been and there will never be. It's an illusion. The sooner we women realise this, the easier it will be for us to be happy.

A clear example is this friend of mine. She's now a happily married woman but when she and her husband met, they truly couldn't stand each other. Honestly, they disliked each other so much that on one occasion she left a party when she realised he was there too. Some time later and because of several reasons, they were forced to spend some time together and they realised they actually liked each other and ultimately they fell in love.

The fact that my friend has always said that her husband is the exact opposite of what she considered 'her type' helps me prove that there is no such thing as Mr Right.

In fact, this also helps me prove my other theory:

Whereas Mr Right doesn't exist, an almost perfect relationship does (key word: almost). In order to achieve this near-perfection, the two members of the couple have to work really hard and every single day. They also must learn to master a high level of diplomacy and must acquire the patience and wisdom of many Buddhist monks.

Only after many years of practice you may begin to consider yourselves to be in a happy, successful relationship. Just then, you must remind yourself to continue the hard work to keep the standard up. Because if any of you two ever relax and make the silly mistake of thinking that the work's done, then your relationship is doomed to fail. Almost guaranteed.

Essentially, I'd say that becoming a Jedi Knight is probably much easier than being a happily married person.

Also I do hate when my single friends talk to me as though as I was born with my wedding band on. But that's another story for another blog entry. Maybe.