Gushy Feelings - Yuck!! By Katie

This is so totally lame, I feel lame for even saying it. How can you miss someone you’ve only known a month? How can you miss someone you have only seen on 3 separate occasions ever? But I miss him, even just emailing with him. We were emailing earlier this week and we made plans to go out tomorrow night and we’ve been maintaining radio silence since we finalized the plans. Every ounce of my being is full of the energy of waiting to be with him again. I want to feel the way I felt just sitting next to him, not talking not touching. I know it’s too soon and I can’t email him to say I’m thinking of him or I miss him, but I keep hoping when I check my email that he would have thought to say it. What’s weird is that I still feel nervous about seeing him so I am simultaneously looking forward to it and not looking forward to it. Also, how am I supposed to be acting cool and aloof when it’s the exact opposite of how I feel? Won’t my feelings be evident and written all over my face? I feel like I will betray myself by expressing what my heart feels instead of what my head knows. Totally lame, I can’t believe I’m being so silly.

Rules of Engagement - by Katie

It seems like every time I turn around lately, someone is sporting a brand new diamond solitaire on their left hand. I can count 7 friends, coworkers, and acquaintences who have gotten engaged in the last few months. It's just about as much as a single girl can take.

I'm glad that when I was little I didn't have one of those major princess wedding fantasies. I'm also glad that I didn't take my mother's admonitions against pre-marital sex to heart but I digress. My parents like to make dire proclamations about how I'm going to have to get married in their back yard since they have no money and I pretend to be shocked but really, I don't need a big wedding. Maybe my parents' back yard is not the locale I would choose, and even though to be perfectly honest I kind of like the idea of a money and time are no object wedding, planned out picture perfectly suited to my tastes and preferences, I'm realistic. Money is an object and time, well, I'm not getting any younger. As long as I get to wear my grandmother's dress, my dad gets to walk me down the aisle, and I have a chocolate fountain at my reception, I'll be happy.

Meanwhile I have fantasized about the proposal since I was a little girl. I don't need a fancy expensive ring or an elaborately laid out plan. All I ask for is the perfect script. I imagine that he (whoever he may be) will say just the right thing, just like a movie, and I will know that someone actually wants to spend his life with me. Hey, I'm in no rush to get married, but for goodness sake, I think it would be nice to be asked.