I have been so blessed to have found my soul mate. Chaz and I met when I was about 13. We started dating when I was 16. After two months, there was this connection where we both know that this was it. We had found the one. However, at 16 and 17, you are dumb for thinking this, and we both felt that way too, so we waited, and waited, and even waited some more. We went through 6 total years of college and an additional year apart, and finally, last April, we made the big move. Seven years together and we were finally there. Newly engaged and embarking on the next adventure together: an apartment. We felt on top of the world and have been there ever since.

And along our journey, we have met some wonderful people and they too have shared in our adventures as a couple. Sometimes I think it is so funny that Chaz and I put in seven years, yet are surrounded by married or engaged people who I thought would have a while before they finally settled down. Yet through our almost eight years together, I have watched my wild and engaging Sri Lanken roommate get married and had a baby!

I also got to witness my best friend get married to her love of two years and enjoyed every minute of helping her. Her wedding date fell one week before Chaz and I moved into our apartment and two weeks before we celebrated seven years together.

And now, my other wild, crazy, livin it up best friend is engaged. Just over a week after Chaz and I will celebrate one year of marriage, she will say “I do” herself.

It is funny to me, that they are all at this stage in life. But it really isn’t odd or funny, or strange at all. In fact, it is pretty normal. However, when you have waited and put in seven years, it is hard for you to fathom that courtship is usually not that long.

When I was in college, or even the end of high school, I thought that I would grow up faster than others since I had a steady boyfriend. I thought they would wait to get married and I would be the "old, married" friend. Turns out, I was wrong, and I couldn’t be happier. This is by far one of the greatest times in my life and the adventure just continues to get better. I love being surrounded by couples and marriage, and confident single friends who are still living it up. With in the span of two years, I will have been a bride, matron of honor, and a bridesmaid. Just goes to show you that everything works out and there really is no one way to go about life. In fact, everyone’s journey is just a little bit different.