Good to the last drop

My sister was recently telling me about a lunch she went to with some old co-workers. Every woman there seemed to be at a different stage of her life and yet all (somewhat) wished for their lives to be different.
--One woman didn't start out with a lot of money, but married well and now lives very comfortably. However, her husband works all the time and she is lonely. She is now realizing that she really doesn't spend the money like she thought she would.
--Another woman doesn't have a lot of money, so she and her husband work very hard to make ends meet. The result is that she feels like she doesn't see her kids enough and is always stressed.
--A third woman has money and great children along with help around the house, but her husband is always working and she rarely sees him.
--And then then is my sister who is single without kids and so doesn't fit into any of the above situations, but still has things that frustrate her about her life.

We started talking about how it always seems that the grass is greener, but in reality, every one has their problems to deal with. I told my sister that my philosophy when I was single in college was that I never knew when I was going to meet Mr. Right, so I better enjoy every moment of singledom while I could. One night my senior year of college my roomate really wanted me to go with her date's friend for a fraternity's date night. I hemmed and hawed because I didn't really want to. But in the end I did, and now I am so glad. I still remember the nervousness and excitement of getting ready with my friend Reese for the date night. It turns out the next night Kyle and I went on our first date and I have not dated anyone else since. The realization of just how much I liked Kyle hit me on our first date and I knew I had kissed my single life goodbye.

Here in Brussels, if Kyle and I aren't traveling, we are often prone to sleeping in on the weekends. I always felt guilty about that until I talked with Emily Lodge. She reminded me that once we have kids, there will be about 20 years of not getting a chance to sleep in. Babysitting for her boys, as we did one weekend, was just enough of a (literal) wake-up call (at 3:30 and 6 a.m.) to remind me to enjoy the time I have now, because it will never be this way again. Carpe diem!