Irene is Engaged!

Irene, my little cousin that I grew up with, is engaged! This is so exciting and so strange because she is forever etched in my mind as this little girl that I moved away from in 1991. I still see her in my mind with soft white cheeks and a mischevious smile! And she's always 9!

But wow! Now she's found the love of her life and she's going to be married. She's going to be the first one in our generation to tie the knot. :) It's so strange wondering about these things when I was little. Who's going to get married first? Who's going to have a baby first? All the stages of life...and slowly, I'm living out the things that I wondered about. Should I feel old? Because I don't. Today, I'm optimistic...so I feel like life is so new and interesting and fascinating and colorful. And...strangely...I want to hug the little cousin I once knew...I wish I could go back in time and tell her life is going to be good...because then we wudn't have had all the other hard conversations in the middle about all the boys that suck that you have to put up with to finally be with the good one...when you don't know what it's going to be like...it's hard to reassure people. Now, it's all smiles....the search is over for the two of them...they've found each other..congratulations Irene!

And no...ladies and gentleman, that does not mean that I'm in a rush to get married...I'm too busy thinking of how romance is in the air!