Alternate "Cure" For Singlehood?

My friend asked me the other day whether she should buy a condo nearby her house. I wonder why she suddenly wants to move out and she told me she had family issue. She felt irrelevant and ignored at home ever since her nephew arrives one fine day about a year ago from the hospital. She also desires to live apart where she is free to make decisions on her own life. Sounds familiar I must say...

I asked her if she has covered the bases on living alone. She sounded confident so I decided to raise some practical worries. I asked if she considered being a female, wouldn't it be dangerous to live alone? Security in this country isn't exactly improving and our police have candidly told us that they alone cannot in entirety prevent crime and on daily basis they are having more cases to handle. Yes, a gated condo can elevate some security concerns but it isn't fool proof. Also, what if she falls sick, who then will take care of her? She is currently single and she doesn't have many close friends living nearby. Sigh...

Maybe I am a pessimist but I always run the worst case scenario in my head. I assume she might be single until old age. What if she was taking a shower and she falls in the bath tub? Living alone, will anyone be able to help her in time since more likely that not, a visitor will only come by once in a long while? Also, if she is walking down the street to buy some groceries, what if she falls and injures herself?

Meanwhile, my wife and our common friends were apparently on a mission on Saturday to help a certain single uncle (let's just call him John) and an ex-colleague (let's call her Jane) of my wife to consider the prospect of starting a relationship. Of course, John and Jane are interested in meeting someone from the opposite sex and if the celestial bodies are properly aligned with a little intervention from their relatives and friends, we should be hearing wedding bells come end of the year. In some ways, I am excited for them. I am not sure why.

This caught my eyes while savouring those oh so yummy and delicious pork dishes.

While savouring the yummy, oh so tender and mouth watering, fried pork ribs and roasted pork knuckles dishes, I realised something. We aren't getting younger and there are still a number of our friends who single and available. And there are mainly in their 30s and mostly from the feminine side. Most are interesting to settle down if they find the right partner but they are somehow "shy". Somehow, they would want to meet prospective partners from the opposite sex but at the same time, they would like to be courted.

In fact, at times, I felt that they would like to be an apple placed in a basket filled with other apples, clearly displayed for someone to take note of them. They would want to be displayed somewhat prominently but in order to not appear desperate, they would therefore need to be in the company of other apples. But the other apples are already labeled with the "Reserved" tags. Hmmm...

Anyway, to beat the shyness, it appears that the my wife and our friends who tagged along, a.k.a. match makers, have decided that Jane will be seated directly facing John. To ensure they have private get-to-know-you conversations, the match makers ensured that Jane spend as much time with John by strongly encouraging both John and Jane to travel in the same car whenever such opportunities arise.

I felt uncomfortable. Afterall, Jane is "shy". Shouldn't there be another date or two before demonstrating such boldness? But like how the women put it to me, when will there be a second date if they don't even exchange contact numbers? They impressed upon me that some things require bold nudging and this is one of them. Forget about destiny, they said, one must seize one's fate.

I find this whole prospect of match making intriguing and somewhat exciting but are we overstepping our bounds? But for an increasingly "shy" yet "somewhat desperate" aging population, shouldn't they view match making as a plausible option, an alternate "cure" perhaps to singlehood?