I'm sixty-nine and single.  Sounds like a pop song. 69 & Single.  Better yet, 69, Single & Sexy.  Put a backbeat behind it, get a hot, young d.j. to produce it, cut a bunch of remixes and an extended club dance version, and you've got a hit on your hands.  

"Never married, huh?," I get asked by men who assume I must be gay or by women who can't decide if I'm gay or a simply a horror to live with. Neither is true but the truth is a far, far longer story - and a more personal story - than I'm going to post here.

But the reason I bring it up is because today I saw reporting that in a dramatic shift from a generation ago, Americans are increasingly forgoing or delaying marriage. Over the last 50 years, the marriage rate in the U.S. has dropped by nearly 60%.

Taxes and other legal structures still give an advantage to married couples, but the formal benefits of marriage are diminishing. And the societal pressure to marry has eroded dramatically. Life is still a bit easier if you're married but many of the life events linked to marriage, such as cohabitating or having kids, are increasingly occurring outside of marriage.

Even as the marriage rate is falling, the institution apparently still holds some value in the U.S. High school seniors' attitudes toward marriage have remained relatively stable over the past several decades. In 1976, 74% of seniors said they expected to get married, and in 2020, 71% still said so.

But the way we think about marriage is changing. It used to be a basic institution that everyone had to buy into in early adulthood. You got married, then you moved in together, and then you got a job. Marriage is now becoming the last step into adulthood, and it's an optional step. People are more likely to want to finish their education, find a job and pay off debt before getting hitched.

As a result, many are delaying marriage. The number of women entering their first marriage between the ages of 40 and 59 has jumped 75% since 1990.

We can expect fewer 50th-anniversary parties in the future.

Fewer Americans are getting married but when they do, they still love to do it in Las Vegas. Roughly 4% of all U.S. marriages in 2021 took place in Nevada, according to an analysis of new CDC data. The share of U.S. marriages in Nevada has exceeded the share of the U.S. population residing in that state every year since 1920.