and guest

After being single for the better part (and by the better part, I mean all) of my 27 years, there are a couple things I've come to appreciate:

• being approached by that really good looking guy at the bar
  
• finding out that the aforementioned guy actually has a personality and a sense of humor
  
• the excitement of a first date and .... maybe, just maybe, a first kiss
  
• the way your heart gets to fluttering when your "crush" is around
• actually being able to have things like crushes, even if your married/dating friends tend to role their eyes at you like you're a 14-year-old girl when you use that phrase
  
• not having to worry about compromising your plans for some guy (okay, maybe that's me being plain old just selfish)
  

But there are few things that have a tendency to stop me in my "I love being single" tracks like:

• realizing 10 minutes into a date that I'm never going to like this guy and having to put on my best smile and politely laugh at his stories for the next hour
• constantly having to answer the question "are you dating anyone?" every time you run into someone you haven't seen in a while
• and the grand-daddy of them all, the "and guest" invitation
  

You know, after a certain amount of time, you become accustomed to replying sans guest, the mash-up singles table, the awkward let's-point-out-all-the-single-girls bouquet toss and the embarrassment of finding yourself alone in the center of the dance floor while all the couples pair up as the DJ switches from "Baby Got Back" to "Wonderful Tonight". Thanks, Mr. Clapton, but I'm not exactly feeling all that wonderful right now.

And it's at that very moment (even more so than during the actual wedding itself) when I usually feel the thumping in my heart that tells me as great as being single is, it would be awfully nice to always know who you're going to slow dance with. To not have to worry ever again about being the cheese, standing out there alone.

So, yeah, having an "and guest" might be kind of nice.

But I think I may have found the absolute next best thing. It's not just having one guest, it's having two of them! It's 3 single friends (okay, make that 2 single and 1 friend with an MIA boyfriend) having the absolute greatest time, dancing and singing and just being a little nuts. It's couples and singles and everyone in between interlocking arms in a giant circle, belting out every word to "American Girl". And no one feeling left out. No one feeling like they're missing a plus one. It's being able to turn in any direction and find the hand of a guy friend to spin you around. And no one standing stranded on the dance floor as "Unchained Melody" oozes out the speakers. It's remembering, again, another reason why being single is so great: you get to have a handful of significant others in the form of your closest friends. You're not just tied to one!

So from here on out, I welcome the "and guest". Because maybe one day I'll actually have a guest to invite. Or maybe I'll get lucky again and end up with another "plus two" like this weekend. And if not? Well then there's always the chance of a hot groomsman. Or usher. Or cousin. Right?

Editors Note: This revelation is only possible because of this weekend's nuptials of one of the greatest couples I'm lucky enough to know. As a perpetually single gal, sometimes it's easy to get down on love and think that maybe, just maybe, this notion of soul mates and true love and falling is just a thing of fairytales and Hollywood movies. And then I look at a couple like Dana and Jon and I can't help but believe in it all. So, thank you.