Get Married! Reasons to Settle Down this Tu BAv

by David Kilimnick

And another reason to get married. This way you can wait at the bus stop with somebody else, and get frustrated together. (photo credit Adam Jones, seen on Wikipedia)

Tu B’Av is here, the Jewish holiday of love, and that means it's time for single people to meet their spouse. We have one day a year and this is our chance to get married. So it's time to prep and pray and meet Mis... Right. 
If the urgency hasn't convinced you, here are reasons why I know you should get married.

Married People Invite You and Feed You
Single people invite you for dinner, and then they invite you to bring the food. “You are coming? Maybe you want to bring the kugel… A little extra chicken and brisket. We’re not inviting you for nothing.” That and a request for dessert is the usual discussion you get as a guest. I have been to dinners where I had to bring my own chair. Married people have chairs.

Too Old to be an Uncle
I can’t go to little league baseball games anymore. I am too old and single. I can’t be a candy man in shul either. It’s creepy. I get married and I won’t get accused of being a scary old guy when I show up to the jungle gym.

Don’t Have to Sit at the Kids Table
I don’t know how this works. I guess they think 8 year olds and 40 year olds are all single so we should sit together. I personally don’t like talking about Barney the Purple Dinosaur and slime, but I do like chicken fingers.

You Can Wear A Tallit Shawl & Head Covering
You're not a freak. Women with no head covering and men with no prayer shawl at shul are branded as losers. When you don’t have a Tallit, people in shul are staring at you. Suddenly you get married and you can wear the secret uniform, no questions. Nobody will ask you what you are looking for. In shul, I am usually looking for the Siddur and what page we're on. If a girl is there, amazing!

Somebody to Scream At
There is so much frustration in daily life. When you are not married, you have nobody to scream at.

Somebody to Complain To
If you get married, you will need somebody to complain to. Marriage is tough. Your spouse is the perfect person to complain to about that.

 Have Kids
The next generation of you. You are awesome. Clones of you should be in this world. 

To Not Get Old Alone
It can be really depressing to look in the mirror and see yourself getting old. This way, right after you look in the mirror, you can see somebody else that looks real bad too.

Another Reason to Have Kids
Who is going to take care of you when you get old? If you are not married or with kids, the answer is: nobody. Nobody is volunteering for the job to be your child. You've got to pay for that, and ingrain the Mitzvah of 'honor thy parents.' Make sure they get down that commandment, so that somebody will visit you and take your money when you're gone. 
You got no kids and you are watching TV, you’re stuck having to get up to get the ice and the remote control yourself. Having kids will help you stay stationary.

Decent Food for Dinner
For some reason, once you get married somebody starts cooking every night. When you’re single you are living off peanut butter and Wacky Mac. I can’t explain it but once you’re married and somebody else is in your life, there’s freshly cooked food every night. Baked cookies somehow appear. Either that or food that was cooked at some point and placed in the freezer.  is continually thawed out for your enjoyment.
This is why Jewish people get married. They want dinner. They want a full dinner that they don’t have to carry a chair to.

So, for the sake of Tu BAv, decent dinners, not looking like a freak sitting at the kids tables and the hopes of not needing to get up from the couch, feel bad about yourself and get married this holiday. I'll support you.