Article December 26, 2011 ISSUE

Married or not, never an 'old maid'

By Laurel Smith

First appeared as a web original on August 15, 2011

In 1949, when I graduated from college and began a job teaching, the ideal American family was universally said to be a father, a mother, two-and-a-half children, and a cocker spaniel. All, of course, living in a charming house in the suburbs.

I believed in that myth. I assumed that I would marry, have kids, and live the good life like the cute wives on TV. Actually, though, all I got to begin with was a cocker spaniel named Tony—but no husband.