So far I have never been married. Sometimes I think about it with a great girlfriend like I have now, but I have been single my entire life(over 50 years), and kind of glad I have never been married, mainly from hearing about friends stories about divorce.

Anyway, in the comments here it is always cool to read a Pinsider talking about how awesome their wife is, and she loves pins, and going to let more in the house.

And funny to read comments about a Pinsider hiding a pin at a buddies house or whatever because no more pins allowed in the house with his wife.

Anyway, do some venting and hopefully tell us some funny stories!

Very awesome advice. I will remember that as I think about where I am heading.

By any chance do you know Larry Silver? One of my best friends and he currently has a couple book stores in a mall in Buffalo.

It has always been a little odd that all my friends end up being like me, single and self employed.

I try to make friends with people I think I have stuff in common with, and it seems like guys wives never want to be around and a good bond never happens.

I am not a wild and crazy party animal or anything, but it has always seemed that wives cancel any plans I try to make with them and their husband(my friend).

If asked if married one of my friends says "I had a wife once, but her husband came and got her".

He is joking and jokes all the time but I seen first hand how a woman he really loved just left him after a motorcycle crash and he was messed up for a little while. His next girlfriend was all over the spectrum. 5 dogs in his house(I love dogs but that is too much), and even cutting his grass and cleaning his gutters. But social...….hell no, even going out to eat she was in a world of her own on her cell messing with fb family stuff.

He finally had all he could handle with her. Cell phones mess up a lot of people anymore.

I still have my Dig Dug I purchased in 1987. It never gets played anymore, and I would sell it possibly. If it was taking space a pin could sit in it would be gone, but not in the way and I figure someday I may turn it on again.

As far as my girlfriend, she loves playing pinball and sometimes she beats me because I am not that great.

She has said that I just let her win that game. My response is sometimes I will have a bad game, but I have never just let anyone win, and I will never do that. That is 100% true, she knows it now, so 20% of the time when she does win it gives her a lot more satisfaction I think.

And when I have joint pains and just can not play anymore I tell her she can keep playing I am in pain and done, and she will play a few more games before she hits the off button.

I just tried to. It would not give me the option.

I have never been married because I never wanted to take the chance of dealing with a divorce.

Almost every girlfriend I have been with has been married one time, and at first they say they never want to get married again, and I think perfect. Within 6 months to a year they always start big time hinting wanting to get married. I am always like woah, lets just be happy like we are now.

Someday I may would marry my current girlfriend, we have been dating 3 years, but I will not be pressured. We get along great 95% of the time, and the other 5% she just lives across a pond from me, a 5 minute walk.

Once I dated a lady for 5 years, and it was almost a hour drive to her house, so sucked when she got in a bad mood. I stayed with her a tad long because she lived in a mansion on a lake, and had a awesome game room in her basement(everything except pins). And she had 2 kids I liked being around and taking them on my boat tubing.

As far as online dating luckily it has been a long time since I have had to do that, but I did have the best luck with plentyoffish when I was using online dating sites.

A very big THANKS to whoever at Pinside updated the poll adding the widowed/widower choice I was not able to add.

You guys are awesome, and this site is awesome!

My personal experience with a girlfriend going through that is 3 main things:
1. hot flashes
2. mood swings
3. signs that she is pregnant, even though impossible for one reason or another. It just seems their body and frame of mind plays tricks on them when going through this. If she gets weird, just hold her and tell her everything will be ok. Or better yet, respond the way you think you should, and not advice from me or anyone else.

About 6 months into this relationship that I hope lasts forever, my girlfriend seen me spending money on pins(and she loves them and plays them more than me actually), and she asked would I sell a pin to buy a ring. Yeah, big time hint, 4 months earlier she was all about been married one time, never doing that again, now this.

My answer was hell no, I can buy a ring for as cheap as $5.00, why should I ever have to sell a pin? So far that has been the end of that, but I am willing to marry her, and get her maybe a $25.00 ring someday, I will not be pressured, no need for it unless she has something hidden I do not know about.

And very weird, but at the same time I made a joke that I can buy a ring for 5 bucks a buddy of mine had just spent a whole lot and was getting married. He laughed about my 5 buck comment. Then not long after I never seen him, he would not return my calls. He messed up, the lady he married was cheating on him big time and he lost all his stuff, and he had just bought a house with her.

He is in contact now, but he has never said much, I know what I know from his family mostly.

For whatever reason, a lot of my friends come and go with their divorce stuff they never want to tell me about.

As far as marriage, the biggest thing that ticks me off is you have to go buy a marriage license. Why in the hell do I have to pay the county to get married is beyond me.

Another thing about modern day marriage I do not like is the lady wants to keep her last name a lot of the time now. WTF, you planning on leaving me so soon you do not want this to be traditional?

I never have either, but I have always been accused of crap like that and "trying to hide what I am doing" in the past. Hell, I am self employed and I do a whole lot of things from internet sales to rental houses to high risk construction work, and even relaxing lawn service for a few customers. (relaxing now that I have a great commercial mower).

Anyway, my girlfriend of 3 years or so is very awesome. If she will stay chilled out and not pressure me to marry unless I am totally ready what I would like to offer is this:

At some point I will just will everything I have to her after I have had a natural death. And I will make her favorite grandkid next in line in the will just in case.

BUT: I would want it in the will that if I suddenly died of a mysterious poison that will would be void.

I never dated from 18 years old until I was 30, because I wanted to get ahead in life money wise. I worked like 120 hours a week back in my 20's.

Looking back glad I did that, knees are about shot now, but at the same time if I had a high school sweetheart things may have been different(most likely for the worst).

Anyway, love em or leave em, just never shoot em. Have no clue where I heard that, but I did long ago.

I wish every single one of you the best always.

If you are in a good place do every damn thing you can to keep that going on.

If you are in a bad place do every damn thing you can to escape that.

Life is short. Never take anything for granted. Just always be the best you can be. (and yeah, like the 9th beer gets me in this chilled out mood). Peace!

First of all, not sure if my computer has been acting up the last 2 days or if a problem is going on with Pinside, but I have had problems now for 2 days with forums loading very slow if ever, while other sites I visit work fine.

Anyway, I am amazed by the poll. I figured 50/50 when I did it, I never realized how many married people there was here. I hope I did it where everyone can see the results, that was my intent.

And thanks again to Pinside for adding a option to the poll, when I could not figure out how. This site and the people that run it is very damn awesome!

Anyway, after reading your comments and stories, I know more about how good I have it. My girlfriend of 3-4 years(if she reads that she will be pissed I can not remember the year) loves pinball as much, if not more than I do. At the end of the night when I am ready to turn a game off she almost always wants to play a few more games while I chill with a beer.

When I see the flaws she has, and actually listen to her bitching about something I do she does not like, hell, she is right most of the time and I am paying closer attention now, not that my attention was ever too far away anyhow.

My only regret is like 2 years ago I bought us season passes to Dollywood. While I was taking a smoke break she went into a store. When she came back she said there was a 25.00 ring in that store she would love to have. My regret was I did not buy that ring she wanted, because she is awesome and she does not ask for much.

In my mind at the time I was only thinking about what I had just spent on passes and this trip in general, so a added cost at the time was like a quick hell no. I regret that.

We only went back to Dollywood a time or 2 after that, and I was hoping she would find that 25 buck ring again and I would get it, but if she even did she never said a word.

Anyway, she was married once, and when we first started dating she said she never wanted to get married again but that quickly changed and I did not like that change, but for a long time now she has chilled with that, and most problems are her calling me out about something and after I have time to think about it she is right.

She just 2 days ago made a joke marriage proposal to me, and the way she did it was awesome, like she gets me, and wants to forever be with me the way we are.

The only thing I regret is not getting that damn 25 buck ring, because that is the only thing she has ever asked for. This Christmas I plan to get her a maybe 500 buck gift card to a jewelry store(I know that crap is a waste of money), but just give her a chance to get a ring she likes, and a token of how I do love her and pay attention to her, if only sometimes I am slow about it.

Sometimes she can get on my last nerve with taking too long to get ready to go somewhere, and I can see where I can get on her nerves also, but damn she loves pinball as much or more than me, and we get along pretty damn good, and she lives a 5 minute walk from here, or 3 minutes if I drive to her house.

I have never been married, I have no plans to be married, but someday as long as I am not pressured I may would take the chance with this lady. In the meantime she does deserve a nice ring, just not the wrong kind of ring.

She does not think like that, she is a keeper.

While ago I told her I regretted not getting that $25 ring, but for this Christmas I want you to pick out a ring you would like. She asked what is her budget, I am just saying a whole lot more than 25, (but not pinball type money).

My lady would never throw anything back at me because when we met she wanted to travel and do some things and I have worn her out with that. I was wanting to travel anyway and now she is happy that I am not planning any trips for a while(except closer to home trips).

I was just not in a great mood the day the 25 buck ring came up, maybe I had problems with tenants, hell, I can not remember. And that was like well over a year ago, and I brought it up tonight, she had forgot about it anyway most likely.

As far as sleeping on a couch, those comments were funny, but only one couch here, while 3 other beds would be empty, so I would just go to another bed if needed. And in 4 years now nothing has ever even came close to that. Any problems we have ever had was not even a problem, just more of a misunderstood what you just said/meant.

She is awesome. I can call her and mention I am having ear pain(just as a example), and 15 minutes later she will call back and say I have a appointment for you with a ear specialist. Just saying she is attentive and very helpful.

And HELL NO. I have never been married and I am not getting married anytime soon. Someday I may would marry this lady, but not in the near future.

I will eventually have my will changed so if anything happens to me she is taken care of. I will not tell her in case she really wants the pins and sees the chance to knock me off for the pins that she also loves playing.

And long ago with past girlfriends I have been on the couch. But in this case her house is a 5 minute walk from mine, and she has extra bedrooms also, so ain't nobody around here sleeping on no couch.

All good.

My girlfriend loves pinball. The current lineup she has been here and helped put most of them together.

When my shoulder gets sore or I am tired and ready to stop playing she normally plays another 3-4 times before cutting the game off.

When she is telling someone about all the places we have traveled to, she lights up most about some of the cool places we have traveled to for pinball.

Sometimes she does complain about me spending so much time on Pinside, but like while ago I showed her a new trick a machine does that I read about here, she is more chilled. She thinks we just tell jokes and have fun here. (so I do have to read threads to learn some stuff a machine does that we did not know).

We average playing pinball 2 hours a night, 5 days a week.

If she would only learn how to work on pinball machines, she would be perfect.

That happens later, or sometimes earlier, and is about 10 hours a week also.

Actually I forgot we have been playing pinball while watching football(she loves football also, college and pro...she is awesome), so really we have been playing pinball about 20 hours a week or more.

It could be, but not when we both love playing pinball. And halftime is not long enough for us for other things anyway.

We suck at pinball and games do not last long, but other things in life last a whole lot longer.

And thanks again to the Pinside staff for editing the poll. I actually changed my vote from single to steady relationship.

Best reason is so you don't lose half your stuff or more.

I have never been married, in my 50's now, and never plan to get married...but with this lady I do keep a open mind a tad.

I have never shared the same residence in a relationship yet.

I totally understand and that was very great of you to help protect your daughter.

Long ago I was in a situation like that, and I stayed for that lady's kids as long as I could. It was just too damn far to drive to keep it up. Lasted about 5 years. But I stayed long enough that the kids could get cars and drive away if needed.

What I just ended up doing is this:

She enjoys working in her yard, and she had been looking at my leaf blower and asking questions. (she has a cheap electric one).

I told her the story of how I regretted not getting her that $25 ring because she does not ask for much, but at the time I was fulfilling a Dollywood season pass and trip I had told her we would take, and I had a rental house mess up at the same time that was going to cost me a lot of money and have downtime until it was ready to rent again.

So, at the time when I suddenly had expensive problems, another $25 was just a added aggravation and I am so sorry about that. I regret that, I was just not in the best mood.

So anyway, if you want a leaf blower like mine I will get you one for Christmas. If you would rather have a ring, you can pick out what you want on a $300 budget.

That thrilled her and we have been shopping and she was happy I went to stores with her.

Then she ordered online, and messed the order up a little, and afraid I was mad. And I was not mad, I had a long day working and was tired and I fixed everything later.

Anyway, as far as ring shopping, she loved some $2000 rings, and hinted a tad, looked at my face and went back to budget.

In the end she listened to me. Go after gold content, diamonds are super inflated, and really not worth much, and a whole lot harder to sell than gold. I think she picked a sapphire something with decent gold weight.

My lady is awesome, loves pinball even more than I do. (shoulder gets to hurting after a kick ass game and have to sit a while and she keeps playing).

And now she is also awesome with that diamond crap. She researched a tad and seen I knew what I am talking about.

She also understands now that any ring or anything jewelry related best scrap value you may hope for is 10% or so.

Jewelry is pretty much the biggest rip off possible, and even worse from a retail source.

And I hate this time of year. Every other commercial on tv is a "he went to Jared". Or a new car with a big ass red bow on the roof.

It took a minute, but my lady gets it now. Yes, sometime I could spend 8000 on a game, and if we get tired of it I can sell it for 7000 pretty fast and we will get something new to play.

But, if I spend 8000 on a ring, and anything happens with it, good luck getting more than 800 back.

She gets it. Pinball machines are awesome and most of the time hold their value, and jewelry is a rip-off.

And no, I have never been married, and I still do not want that, I am self employed and I like everything the way it is with all that tax stuff. (not to mention the losing half your shit and lawyers fees).

But, if she stays long term with me, grows old with me, damn straight down the road I will have a new will done to make sure she gets everything should anything happen to me. (I would not tell her, I doubt she would try to speed the process up, but you never know).

Hell, I do know I can not tell her a damn thing that her Mom will repeat back to my Mom. And that is the biggest thing I hate...loose lips. I guess that is my fault anyway for being too open sometimes.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!

Life just keeps taking crazy twists for both me and my girlfriend, and when together pretty much nightly at least for a while to have dinner and play a pin, and a round of Golden Tee we get along awesome.

I have had a few girlfriends in the past, but with this lady, she is my best friend, and all is awesome!

And cool how everything has fell in place. About the same time I was ready to get back into pins she had never been into it, and now when I am too tired she wants to keep on playing.

And when she beats me she thinks I let her win, and I honesty tell her I have never let anyone win, beat me, you won fair and square.

I do have to tune out if she talks about her Mom, or her daughter in law, other than that we were made for each other.

I know I have it made, my lady is awesome!

And for Valentines day, the minute I walked into the store, I seen flowers all over the place. I felt guilty, I do not buy that shit, a waste of money. But I did get her a whole lot of boxes of candy, and she was impressed and asked why I got her so much. She was like was this on sale or something? I said no, just seeing all the flowers made me think I needed to get you a tad more than normal.

And I have never been married, still do not plan to, (from the whole thing about county license and whatever else is just another tax), but this lady I love is my best friend, and I really hope we can grow old together....after maybe living like we are teens for another 40 years.