Dear "20 something" year old unmarried girls,

I am one of you and I don't know any more than any of you. But, I do want to talk about something. Something I know nothing about..marriage. I don't know about you guys, but it seems like every weekend I hold my breath. I hold my breath, and I wait. For who will be engaged this Saturday. For which new wedding hashtag I'll stalk for hours. For who #saidyestothedress. For who wore the wedding dress I PINNED ON PINTEREST TWO HOURS AGO. And for who married their best friend 2 months ago today.
But you know what?
I'm done.
It is awesome that these girls "found their soulmate". I truly hope that they did. It is awesome that they felt ready to be married at 21. I really hope they're loving it, and I can't wait till the girl doing all the posting is me. But I'm not going to envy it anymore. I can't. It has become an obsession. We all want the "ring before spring". In the halls of my school, I hear more girls talking about engagement rings than assignments. My pinterest board is flooded with wedding dresses, and every girls movie night involves a happy ending with an engagement or a wedding. This has to stop. Maybe not for you, but for me.

I'm not bitter. I have a boyfriend. I have friends. I love my major, and I have a great life. I have a job, I go out on the weekends, I make a killer smoothie...so why do I always feel like I'm doing something wrong? Like I'm always coming up short? It's just because I don't have a ring on my finger. And that, that's an issue.

You see when I get engaged, I don't want it to be because I was ready to be like all my friends. I don't want it to be because I had been begging my boyfriend for years to get me a ring because "all the other girls in the education department have one." I don't want it to be about me at all. I want it to be because I am crazy, over-the-moon, 100%, in love with someone. And because they are crazy, over-the-moon, 100% in love with me. So until this day comes, I'm not going to pay any attention to the weekend wedding craze. I'm not going to stare at my hand wishing for a ring. Instead, I'm going to enjoy my life because last time I checked, life was about so much more than finding a husband.

I'm going to eat a piece of chocolate cake, because I don't have to fit into a wedding dress any time soon. I'm going to go dancing with my friends, because I don't have a husband to go home to and they'll keep me laughing all night long. I'm going to watch lifetime movies and eat Ben & Jerrys with my mom, because there won't be many more years where this behavior is acceptable. I'm going to sleep in and enjoy waking up next to no one, and making my own cup of coffee, just the way I like it. I'm going to go out on the town and not worry about money for the night because I'm not trying to save up to buy "our dream house". I'm going to enjoy my life as an independent, 20-something. Because my life right now is amazing, just the way it is.

Care to join me? Let's go dancing.

xoxo Taylor

College

When I first got to college, I was so excited. I was ready to learn about being a teacher, ready to have all-nighters studying, ready to become a cute college girl. I was ready to meet my bridesmaids and have crazy *#*CoLLeGe*#* stories to tell my future kids. And you know what? I didn't. I have made some acquaintances, and some friends. But I haven't made best friends. I really haven't. I've spent college looking around aimlessly trying to connect with people. Aka I've been sitting in the back of the room on Tumblr, but whatever.

 I always pictured my college friends as these cool girls with amazing closets full of Free People that they'd let me borrow. I thought they'd have my taste in music and movies and that we'd stay up late talking about boys and books. I know this sounds stupid but it's what I thought. Instead I found friends I can go out with and not talk about anything, friends I can study with, and a few friends I can eat lunch with. There is nothing wrong with these girls. In fact, I love them like really. But I don't feel that "you're my sister and my best friend and I want to tell you everything about me and learn everything about you and we're gonna be friends forever" bond. Why is that? My only explanation is that I already found that.

 My two best friends since Elementary School, are still here for me today. I found that love in fourth grade. These girls are the type I can invite over to watch a show they hate, to do chores with me, or to listen to me vent. Which happens. A lot. They're the type of friends who send me pictures of clothes they're trying on, who ask my opinion on Chia seeds ("are you really pooping more?" "Are they like gross?") and whose lives I have watched happen. I remember when they each had their first heartbreak, when they *ahem* became a woman, who they liked in 7th grade, and the first band that they just adored. I didn't have to learn these things about them through long talks and "get to know you" games because I experienced them first hand. And how cool is that?

These girls are my best friends, and they're so much better than my dream college friends. They're real, they know me, they accept me, and they love me. I've never had to pretend for a second that I'm into dubstep or that I just LUV salad. Nah, they accept that listen almost exclusively to musicals and 90s alternative and they know that I order chicken fingers everywhere I go. They're a part of me a part of my story, a part of my heart.  They've shaped who I am and they've changed my entire life.

  So meet Amanda (on my left) and Brittany (on my right), my soulmates, bridesmaids, sisters, and best friends. If they're the only two I've got then I'm still luckier than most.