Opinion

Dear Goldy,

I’m 30. I’m not old or young. I’m not desperate either. I like my age, my life—job, friends… But like everyone else, I want to get married. I can’t say that I go out every week or every other week with someone new. Sometimes there are no calls for months, and then sometimes calls come all at once.

Dear Goldy,

Am I reading too much into something that’s really nothing? Am I sabotaging myself? I’m dating someone that I’m really developing feelings for. But am I being too picky? Let me set it up for you.

I’m not the greatest when it comes to being “up with social media.” I know of popular influencers, but I don’t listen to podcasts or subscribe to channels or anything like that. So, I would never know of this topic if it didn’t make it into mainstream media. Apparently, a huge social influencer named Alix Earle went on a podcast (could’ve been her own, but I wouldn’t know) and proclaimed that she had never read a book, with the exception of the exceptional Dr. Seuss. She called reading books a Gen Z thing. She wasn’t embarrassed about this either. She is wearing it like a badge of honor.

Dear Goldy,

I started dating someone a month ago and have been having a very nice time, but now I’m not so sure. In your Instagram videos, you always say to speak up, and if something doesn’t feel right, say something—so I’m writing to you.

A few weeks ago, I took my daughter out for lunch - some quality, special Mommy and Me time. There weren’t many customers in the restaurant. But the women at the table near us were loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear. My daughter begged me to ask the waiter to put on music to drown them out because she didn’t want to hear them talk during our lunch.

Dear Goldy,

I’m an animal lover. I always wanted a pet as a child, but my parents didn’t allow it. They tried over and over to explain why I couldn’t. They’re very frum, and so I think they were just going along with, “You can’t own a pet. They’re muktzah on Shabbos, and you can’t feed them…” This is what I was always told. I know there are some halachos involving owning pets, but my parents always kept going back to the same line, “It’s not allowed.” But they did let me have a bird and goldfish. That’s as far as I got. I tried telling them that caring for a pet would teach me responsibility and all that stuff, but nothing worked.