My Grown Up Life

I am getting married. I am going to marry the guy I've had a crush on since I was 13.

There is a 16-year-old version of me somewhere screaming, and a 24-year-old version of me that keeps welling up and happy crying like a crazy person. It feels very real, and very not real. I guess it's been a long time coming, but MAN was I surprised.

March 5th was the ten year anniversary of when he asked me out the first time, when I was a freshman in high school. We were standing next to a garbage can on the bottom floor of the school, and at the time, I thought it was wildly romantic.

Now, we've dated other people in the mean time, this wasn't quite an anniversary. (I have a truly impressive knack for learning things the hard way.) But I am of the mind - there are never enough things to celebrate! So we were planning to! Up to New Paltz for a nice hike, get in some mountains, maybe some dinner. Except - when we woke up it was about 4 degrees out, so we decided to reschedule.

I was making my tea, looking like a swamp creature in sweatpants with a frizzy bun on my head. He called me into the bedroom. I opened the door, and he was down on one knee. I started weeping immediately, and that was that.

To me, it was magical.

All of a sudden I am going to marry my best friend, I am turning 25, I've had my own classroom for two years, I have two furry babies, and I've started my adult life almost by accident. I'm thrilled that this is what my life gets to look like, I have no idea how all of this happened, and I can't wait to see what happens next. I have loved so many places, and learned so many things, but I can't help but feel like I'm right at the beginning of everything.

Here we go!