Prologue
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are no single men at a wedding. Despite what Hollywood will tell you, this is the truth. The most attractive guy in the room will be married with two kids. You will not be swept off your feet unless by your own klutziness. Do not pass Go, do not collect two-hundred dollars."
I remember the text message like it was yesterday. One of my friends was lamenting to me about a wedding we attended and the lack of single men present. When I responded with the above, I'm fairly certain my words proved no balm. But this wedding had marked my seventh as a part of a bridal party, and one of many I had attended as a guest. I wore my "27 Dresses" badge with pride. If anyone in my circle of friends knew anything about weddings and the lack of single men, it was me.
It was 2010. I was the ripe old age of 23, single, and working on my third year of my Bachelor's degree. I walked a fine line between cynicism and desperation, and was coming off my second stint at eHarmony.
Two years prior I had taken a year off of school to move out and experience some independence. In that time my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to some quick catching of the tumors by doctors (and the grace of God), her bout with cancer didn't last long. But in that time I came to lean on a close friend. A friend for whom I developed romantic feelings. I then was blessed to be the first person he told when he decided to pursue another friend of ours.
Oh yeah, the wedding I had just returned back to school from? It was theirs. I was the maid-of-honour.
Like I said, I wore my "27 Dresses" badge with pride.
After he confessed to me his intentions, I did what any sensible, heartbroken woman would do.
I joined eHarmony. And applied to go back to university.
Within a few months I was back at school. And dating a guy from eHarmony. That relationship lasted all of six weeks.
*a word of caution from this tale: don't agree to date a guy after only emailing, texting, and talking on the phone. Make sure you meet him in person first. Because there is a very good chance that once he meets you in person he will realize "he's just not that into you" (my life is basically just an homage to rom-coms). And he will break up with you by reading week.
By 2011 I was in the midst of another hiatus from school (this time to teach grade 5/6 at my old high school with a letter of permission), and had started keeping a blog: Annals of a Christian Single. My prospects had only dwindled even more, my students repeatedly wanted to know if I was ever going to get a boyfriend, I had changed churches, and by the incredibly advanced age of 24 going on 25 I had seemed to lose countless friends as they all got married and didn't know what to do with a singleton like me.
But I wasn't desperate. At least not completely. I had read enough novels and watched enough movies to know that this couldn't be it. There had to be hope. By the time I turned 25, it seemed like things were changing. One of my best friends, in her efforts to see me happily wed to someone she thought I would get along, helped initiate contact between me and one of the groomsmen from her wedding (hers was wedding #4). It was September 2011. I was returning to finish the last year of my undergrad, was keeping a blog about life as a single, Christian woman, and was keeping up "correspondence" with a single, Christian man.
What could possibly go wrong?
I remember the text message like it was yesterday. One of my friends was lamenting to me about a wedding we attended and the lack of single men present. When I responded with the above, I'm fairly certain my words proved no balm. But this wedding had marked my seventh as a part of a bridal party, and one of many I had attended as a guest. I wore my "27 Dresses" badge with pride. If anyone in my circle of friends knew anything about weddings and the lack of single men, it was me.
It was 2010. I was the ripe old age of 23, single, and working on my third year of my Bachelor's degree. I walked a fine line between cynicism and desperation, and was coming off my second stint at eHarmony.
Two years prior I had taken a year off of school to move out and experience some independence. In that time my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to some quick catching of the tumors by doctors (and the grace of God), her bout with cancer didn't last long. But in that time I came to lean on a close friend. A friend for whom I developed romantic feelings. I then was blessed to be the first person he told when he decided to pursue another friend of ours.
Oh yeah, the wedding I had just returned back to school from? It was theirs. I was the maid-of-honour.
Like I said, I wore my "27 Dresses" badge with pride.
After he confessed to me his intentions, I did what any sensible, heartbroken woman would do.
I joined eHarmony. And applied to go back to university.
Within a few months I was back at school. And dating a guy from eHarmony. That relationship lasted all of six weeks.
*a word of caution from this tale: don't agree to date a guy after only emailing, texting, and talking on the phone. Make sure you meet him in person first. Because there is a very good chance that once he meets you in person he will realize "he's just not that into you" (my life is basically just an homage to rom-coms). And he will break up with you by reading week.
By 2011 I was in the midst of another hiatus from school (this time to teach grade 5/6 at my old high school with a letter of permission), and had started keeping a blog: Annals of a Christian Single. My prospects had only dwindled even more, my students repeatedly wanted to know if I was ever going to get a boyfriend, I had changed churches, and by the incredibly advanced age of 24 going on 25 I had seemed to lose countless friends as they all got married and didn't know what to do with a singleton like me.
But I wasn't desperate. At least not completely. I had read enough novels and watched enough movies to know that this couldn't be it. There had to be hope. By the time I turned 25, it seemed like things were changing. One of my best friends, in her efforts to see me happily wed to someone she thought I would get along, helped initiate contact between me and one of the groomsmen from her wedding (hers was wedding #4). It was September 2011. I was returning to finish the last year of my undergrad, was keeping a blog about life as a single, Christian woman, and was keeping up "correspondence" with a single, Christian man.
What could possibly go wrong?
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