this is it

So a week from today is the last day of me being single; or, really, unmarried. I haven't been "single" in a long time. But I was single for a long time--or, I feel like I was until I met Lev. It's funny when you finally meet that one person...it's like everyone else that you had ever dated never existed. Because there was nobody like this person. Everything in my life was leading up to that moment that I met Lev, and everything in my life has been leading up to this moment, here I am, now.

Ten years ago this month, my best friend (and maid of honor) was gearing up for her wedding. I remember it so clearly--I remember how wonderful it was that these two fantastic people had met, fallen in love, and were about to embark on a life together. And I remember wondering if that would ever happen to me. I was breaking up with a boyfriend that I'd been together with for about two years (when you are 21, two years seems like a lifetime), and just thinking that perhaps I'd never find *it.*

Ten years is a long time but it is also a blink of an eye, you know? I can still feel the energy of August, 2001. It seemed like the whole world was just opening up to me. I was new. I was applying for a publishing internship in New York (which didn't happen for obvious reasons). My best friend was getting married on September 7. We were so very young. And now, ten years later, my best friend and her wonderful husband of ten years have two beautiful children, a great house, and the same cat. And I'm getting ready for my marriage to Lev.