I'm still around, having health issues but thinking & planning & occasionally commenting on something I see. Here's a recent comment I made on the blog for the new women's magazine, Verily:

My comment:
"Do you think there are ways that unmarried women can be practicing commitment in small ways to be building character traits that help prepare for lifelong marriages?" I'm not Ashley but I will give my answer to your question: 'Yes!' We can perform our "manifest duties" well: give appropriate notice when we leave a job (sometimes that's more than 2 weeks) or a roommate situation. Pay bills on time. Repay friends when it's really possible & not just when asked or when we've got extra cash. (When do we have extra?) Learn to tell the truth & not what we hope will be the truth (ie: I don't know when I'll be able to repay this so if you can't spare it, please don't make the loan.) Seek to do our jobs well, even the parts we don't like. Ask how we might help when we have downtime. We ought to be making & keeping commitments to serve God & our neighbours: Church at least once each week. Defined prayer times (morning prayer, evening prayer, the Rosary, etc. can be very helpful). We can also engage in what I call "personal giving" so that when we want to slack off, we know the people we would be hurting - it helps enormously if children are involved because it hurts to disappoint a child. (ie: Recently, I remade a flower girl dress for a child in a family of 9 whose eldest son is marrying. They couldn't afford a seamstress. I also loaned shoes & a belt to the mother knowing she can't afford cool accessories but would love to have them. Because I'm ill, the sewing was quite difficult but I couldn't let them down so I did it.) Most of our lives can be spent building our characters so that we are able to make & keep commitments. For most of us, marriage is only the biggest commitment we will make.

Their response:
Alessandre, I love your ideas for small personal commitments. I see them also as ways to serve others. As a single person (not-married), it is so easy to craft my schedule around whatever I would enjoy at that moment. The ideas you gave really reminded me of service and the ways that serving others or being attuned to others can help us develop character. Great points!

Check out Verily's teaser issue. I'm not involved but I'd love your comments since I've been thinking about a project in the same area but different. I'll keep my own comments on Verily & info on my project to myself for now. God bless you all & thanks for hanging in there. I continue to hope for stability in my health but then something changes; that's what it means to live on earth.