Life As I Know It

I stood in front of the mirror and looked at all sides of the dress. A perfect (color non-existing-other-than-in-weddings) bridesmaid dress. A chiffon, one shoulder piece that I wont regret in wearing, when on the corner of my eye I observed a soon-to-be-bride stepping up to the platform, where she proceeded to twirl, mesmerized, while her company ooed and awed. I smiled at my mom and said “always a bridesmaid never a bride”. She looked at me puzzled partly because she doesn’t understand English and because if she did I’m pretty sure she’d give me the same look. Till I was 15 I had this innocent notion of love. I seriously believed you'd meet someone, you'd fall in love, and everything would end in a happy ending. After one too many fairy tales you begin to believe that love flourishes out of thin air and background music. That you casually bump into someone at your favorite coffee shop. Your coffee spills, and you both kneel down to clean, apologizing, both look up at the ...

Sitting a cross from each other on our way back home my best friend and I find ourselves immersed in conversation:   "I wish you could shop for men like you do shoes online or the perfect dress" My friend says looking up from a magazine. I laughed. "Even better. Narrowing down the search by category, color, size, and style." "And price!" she added. "Accompanied by a Disclaimer and the Return Policy" Sometimes we search for love the way we do clothes in a catalogue. We go on a quest to find the perfect guy who measures up to everything we want. We all want that perfect breathless fit. But it is in the search that we are often misled. We misread instructions, mistake the shape and colors, and find that what we ordered isn’t at all what we wanted to end up with. On paper anyone is a sweet talker and Prince Charming. But looks can be deceiving. Behind that wonderful face can be a heart that doesn’t know how to love. So we set certain standards...