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