Back in 2003, Sex and the City identified a cruel reality about single life: There's no single-person's equivalent of a wedding—a time when people travel from afar to bring you gifts and toast your life decisions.

Carrie Bradshaw said, "If you are single after graduation, there isn't one occasion when people celebrate you" besides birthdays, which we all enjoy.

Despite a proliferation of single adults, little has changed since that episode aired nearly a decade ago: trips are not planned when we're promoted at work, nor crystal glassware gifted when we buy our first homes. It seems that milestone celebrations are still reserved for couples and families.

It shouldn't be that way, of course. NYU professor Eric Klinenberg wrote Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone to tell "the story of the biggest modern social change that we've yet to identify: the extraordinary rise of living alone." Marriage rates have reached a record low, and adults are generally marrying and having children later in life. As a result, single people can expect later (and fewer) unions. But societal traditions are lagging behind this shift. -- Millie Kerr in The Atlantic