My 2011 Wish for Singletons

The colors are sharper.
My smile is wider.
The air is cleaner
and the sun is brighter.
My eyes are shining
and my laughter is lighter.

What a difference a year makes.

In reflecting on the past year, I've taken stock of what has come to pass in my life, and I am astounded by how much I want to shout out to all the singletons:

Keep faith!
Keep hope!
Keep your head!
And most importantly, keep your head up!

There's nothing wrong with single. Embrace being single. Live it, love it.

And when the person comes along who seems to ignite that spark in you, take a breath, and take that chance!

Two years ago, a man I was dating for a couple months told me that he liked me “enough” to stick around to see if I could further change my physical appearance because he “liked thin.” Needless to say, I stuck it to him all right.

Fast-forward to 2010. I had my standard personal dating preferences in place, (essentially: must love dogs and must not mind weight) but I'd also pretty much taken to just enjoying life, making friends and lovers wherever a 40-year old woman could, and not fretting over every little aspect of dating anymore. It was what it was, and I was perfectly OK with that. After all, my sexual pique was in overdrive!

Guess what happened next? I found a man who liked me – period. Without conditions. BAM…completely unexpectedly, a man came into my life who enriched my mind, enticed my libido, and tickled my funny bone in just the right places. Just like Emeril's sauces, savvy?

And all that he fulfilled for me, I miraculously also did for him. It was fate, karma, or pure luck – we didn't ask twice. We took our respective newfound gifts of compatibility and thanked our lucky stars. And as we like to say, we're both lovingly, willingly “in it for the long haul.”

Just this morning, 10 months later, we found ourselves renewed with feeling like the luckiest, blessed buggers in the world. If I could bottle this feeling and sell it, no one would ever again feel doubtful of the possibility of loving and being loved.

So, my 2011 New Year's wish is for you… and you… and you…perhaps the one reading this who feels relationships are what happen to other people. Do not sell yourself short. Don't give up. But don't wait on the sidelines shooting vibes of disgruntlement and curmudgeoness either.

Live!

Live your life, every day, to the fullest.

Stop fretting over why the last person didn't like you “enough.” The one who IS capable of loving you just the way you are may be around the corner, or the next profile you see, or the next person your friends think you should meet.

Stay open, lightning could strike. (Sorry, it is a great line, even if it is from a sappy movie.)