Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on Iheart Radio.

There's an article that seems to be written every few weeks now, and the latest is titled

American Women Are Giving Up on Marriage and was in Saturday's Wall Street Journal.

I'm not criticizing the genre. I obviously talk about this topic maybe more than any other, and I appreciate that

these pieces are sounding the alarm. Just kind of think they're not quite getting it right.

Here's a quote from the article. I'm financially self-sufficient enough to do these things by myself,

said a woman they interviewed, a Boston-based accountant.

I'm willing to accept being single versus settling for someone who isn't the right fit.

She sees her plans for an independent future as making the best of a lousy situation.

I don't want to sit here and say I'm 100% happy, but I feel happier just accepting my reality.

I'm mentally and emotionally a sense of peace. She's only 29. She's 29 and she's given up on finding her person. It's just depressing.

But here's the thing. At 29, I was in a six-year relationship with someone who I did not marry.

I was certain.

I mean, a thousand percent sure that I didn't want to get married and I didn't want to have

kids.

I started dating my husband the following year when I was 30, and we got married the

year after that.

It changes so quickly. Why does a 29-year-old feel so despondent

about her future? The problem is the dating culture. If you talk to anyone in it, well, you feel

extra grateful to not be in it, but they use this language that just become ridiculous.

Like, I get what a situation ship is, but giving it a name as opposed to just like someone you're hooking up with makes it sound so much more important than it is.

As listeners have heard me say on this show before, the problem is a decline in marriage, yes, but it's a decline in

...