Oh the joys of thanksgiving

thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday. it's the time when my family gets together- we're not big on family get togethers the rest of the year because we're fairly spread out but thanksgiving is the one time we all get together. and each year we sit down at the dinner table and each of us says what we're thankful for.
well the last few years everyone is always thankful for the new addition to the table, meaning someone brought a significant other. and each year i sit there smiling, by myself. this year we expanded, somehow we all (and by we all, i mean everyone else) went around the table- after our thank you's- and told the story of how they first met their spouse or boyfriend. now the funny thing is, as much as i make a big deal about all of this sometimes, it really doesn't bug me. i keep thinking that every year it will be this big deal that i don't have someone and really it's not. i mean without fail they're going to ask me why i didn't bring anyone to thanksgiving but the fam has done a progressively better job each year of just asking the once and then letting it go. i am, after all, the youngest one at the table each year and somehow they haven't realized that now i'm 20 and still never have a boyfriend. i mean sure there were years where other cousins didn't bring guests but they've almost always had boyfriends stashed somewhere just not at the family table with the rest of us.
and i've been reading the book "when God writes your love story" and i'm enjoying it just fine but these last few chapters i've become keenly aware of all the references to singleness being lonely and painful adn all the tearful times and i just keep thinking- is it really that hard for people? is it really so terrible? i mean i understand that the book is attempting to say that we should take this time to prepare and to grow in our relationship with God and to just become who we are and eventually we'll find someone but when they say it they say it like "we know that your life is miserable but try to make the best of it before marriage." now that's an exageration but it really is a lot of how the book is written and i just keep thinking to myself how happy i am to be who i am and where i am and that yes i do someday want to get married and yeah i'm real eager to meet the incredible man that God has set aside for me, but until then i'm not going to let my life be destroyed because i'm "alone." i truly feel sorry for people who have the incredible emptiness inside because they're not married yet. i mean i suppose i have much more empathy for those who are over 30 and still waiting and trying to cope with the idea that it may never happen for them, but it's the 19 year olds and the 23 year olds that are just so desperate and despairing over the whole thing that i feel sorry for in a different way. i really wish that they didn't ahve to feel so incomplete and like their lives are so useless right now.
don't get me wrong i realize that not everyone is like that and there are plenty of people that are still living life, but it seems i keep running into and hearing about the folks that are moping about the wait.

i'm beginning to get excited about the day when i get to bring a special friend to thanksgiving-changedfish