The Grass Isn’t Always Greener…

A friend and I went to dinner the other night in Manhattan. When she excused herself to use the ladies' room, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation taking place next to me.

Two young women were chatting it up: one was single and the other was clearly unhappily married. The unhappily married woman was talking quite loudly about her husband, and how he just isn't fun anymore. She told her single friend she was jealous of her lifestyle and wished she could enjoy the fruits of being single once more.

I sat very still, and though wanted to pipe up to offer some advice, I was speechless. Believe me ladies, that doesn't happen very often. It suddenly occurred to me that I've been in both of their shoes: I've been the unhappy married woman complaining about her husband, and after my divorce, I became the carefree single woman.

So, which lifestyle was better, I pondered, as my friend took her sweet time primping. Going through a divorce was the hardest emotional experience I have ever had, but there were some real challenges being single, too.

Perhaps we tend to look at certain situations that romanticize from the outside, but once you're in, you discover the grass isn't really greener.

What do you think ladies: Which was better, married or single?