Not a Single Regret

Rewards of abandoning the quest for an LTR (Sorry for the pun)

Mernie Buchanan
3 min readApr 5, 2024

--

Being single gave me time to photoshop my chihuahua into old masterpieces

Doing productive stuff with men is highly rewarding and often loads of fun. I love men for that. Since the 80’s I was often the only female on crews: building stage sets, racing sailboats or shooting & editing sports videos.

I Quit the Quest

Trying to form a successful romantic or long term relationship with a person of the opposite sex (how I happen to be wired) was the medical definition of insanity. I tried for decades. Some woman are good at it. I wasn’t. Other women chose wisely. I didn’t.

In 2005 I quit cold turkey. Fortunately for me that was right around menopause when dudes were no longer turning to look at my ass when passing on the sidewalk. (The benefits of aging are another story.) But my hard won advice has value for women of any age who become aware of a dismal, unwavering pattern of everything from unfortunate dates to repeated, dashed hopes of something more permanent to abuse in its many forms.

Over and over I looked over the bio, believed it and took him on. I would invest hope, emotional energy, physical energy and yes, money into a promising prospect. After weeks or months the hope was gone. If the gods were merciful it was days — when they weren’t it was years. When hope…

--

--

Mernie Buchanan

Originally from CA & Las Vegas, I now paint and write in Woodstock NY. All images are my original art & photos. Links to more at mernie.com