How many frogs?

Kiss a frog to get a prince?

Miss Minchin: Don't tell me you still fancy yourself a princess? Child, look around you! Or better yet, look in the mirror.

Sara Crewe: I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?    

When Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote A Little Princess,  it never occurred to me that I would be thinking about this conversation between Miss Minchin and Sara Crewe, when I was single and alone in my 50's!   How I got here is a long and strange story, but my question for the day is also related to another children's story, The Frog Prince.

So here is the question:  How many frogs does a princess have to kiss before she gets a prince?

Dating is very strange when you are 53 years old.  Men are so odd.  The ones I have met want all the amenities of marriage,  they want to cuddle on the sofa, discuss troubles, have dinner cooked for them etc,  but when it comes down to discussing a longer lasting relationship that might eventually led to marriage,  they are gone in flash, with no warning! You can invest much precious time in building a relationship and then it is just gone in a flash!

I wonder if it is worth it in the end, investing oneself in a relationship with a man, when they all seem to be so selfish.   I am tired of kissing frogs! If my prince doesn't show up soon, I am throwing the golden ball in the well for keeps!