Annie’s Mailbox: Singles not OK sleeping on couch

Dear Annie: “Cold in Michigan” said his family always makes him sleep on the sofa when the other relatives use the bedrooms. I understand his dilemma. Being a single 40-year-old woman, my family thinks the couch is OK for me. What they forget is I need privacy like any other normal adult.

Why should my teenage nieces or my younger brother and his girlfriend have more privacy than I do? I would like to lay out my clothes, toiletries, contact case, etc., and wake up on my time, not necessarily when the 4-year-old wants to watch “Thomas the Train” at 6 a.m.

Also, since I am in the living room, I am hostess from morning until night, and everyone else uses the space where I am expected to relax and sleep. So I started staying in local cottages. My family says I am a snob. I say I saved my sanity. – Black Sheep of N.H.

Dear Black Sheep: We agree that everyone needs privacy, but homes can only provide so much of it. You are smart to stay elsewhere. We would, too.