happy endings

My sister Emily (in the green) and me with some happy newlyweds. Zaragoza, Spain.  August, 2012.

            As my 26th birthday approaches everyone around me seems to be getting engaged or married. I thought I had more time before the wedding march began and it's hard not to feel a pang of jealousy as all my friends find their happy endings when mine is nowhere in sight.  I often find myself wondering if marriage is even something I want--isn't it just an outdated institution with unrealistic expectations?  Do I really know that many married couples who are still happy after years of marriage?  But it's still hard not to feel the societal pull to tie the knot and succumb to the notion of happily ever afters...

            This summer, I was lucky enough to travel to Spain for one of my oldest friend's weddings.  Raquel and I have known each other since we were sixteen when we met during my junior year of high school abroad in Zaragoza.  Raquel's family adopted me and welcomed me into their home in one of the hardest and best years of my life.  Theirs was a family I chose to be a part of, one that accepted and loved me when I needed family the most.  To see someone so dear to me who I have watched turn into the incredible woman she is today start the next chapter of her life with her husband was unbelievably emotional for me. As I watched Raquel and Oscar come out of the church as husband and wife for the first time, there was no room for jealousy.  All I could feel for Raquel was immense happiness.

              I'm the first to recognize that jealousy is never a productive emotion.  So for now, as I watch the people I love walk down the aisle I will share in their happiness and hope that the beginning of their happy endings means mine is out there waiting for me too.

Raquel y Oscar, August 4, 2012