Yes, something is missing.
For as long as I can remember, I've watched my friends pair off. Temporarily and fleetingly in high school, longer and more lasting in college, and now, permanently. Throughout it all, I've remained single. Too shy, too insecure, too ... whatever. I got used to my role as the "Single One" — I was even OK with it. As an introvert, I not only like my alone time, I need it. But, somewhere along the line, I stopped just being single and started being lonely. Most days I'm both. There. I said it: "I'm lonely." And try as my paired up friends might, they don’t seem to fully understand what it's like to watch everyone around you fall in love. They don't understand that I'm lonely and what it means to be so.