Dear Jo: When DD was eighteen, he had a relationship that shaped the rest of his life. Because of that, he spent his life as a bookish celibate, totally lacking empathy. And we're not supposed to be interested? What if Gellert had been Gretchen instead, would our interest have been more understandable?

If he was single in his old age because his significant other had died from old age or something, then I could agree it would be less interesting.