Living the Single Life
For some reason, talking about being single is something that I have done over the past few days with several different people for several different reasons.

I have been an completely content single woman since September 8, 2005 when I moved into my own place for the first time ever. I never realized living alone was going to be something that I enjoyed so much.

I sort of dated someone before I left Temple (how sort of? well, I didn't know we were sort of seeing each other until he broke it off). For the first time ever I can say that I have no regrets on how I handled this semi-relationship, and that I did not act like a desperate single girl who is trying to land a husband (finally!). I can't tell you how encouraging this is for me!!

I still get asked why I haven't gotten married yet (usually by someone in my home church who has known me since I was little). I have several reasons (and these are in no particular order):

1. God hasn't brought that person into my life. If all I wanted was to get married, I could have done that various times in college.
2. I'm not ready to get married yet. I still have grad school to finish up (hopefully by Spring '08). I like living alone right now. I like my independence. I like what God's teaching me. I honestly have no desire to be married. I know a lot of my friends were ready to get married when they were younger, but I wasn't ready at 20 or 21 or 22 (or even 26).
3. I don't want to get married until I find someone who will love me as much as my daddy loves my mom. I don't want to get married until I know I'll have what my best friends have with their husbands. I want a husband who will always think I'm the most beautiful woman in the room the way my dad does. I want a husband who strives to protect his wife from hurt the way that Adam protects Brooke. I want a husband who is a compassionate father and encourager the way that Jeff is to Cat.

I have so many wonderful examples in front of me...how could I possibly settle for anything less than what my friends have?