There are two younger women at my gym - college students, roommates, about 20 or 21. I don't know why they pay for a Curves membership when the college has a relatively nice gym right on campus, but maybe the college's gym is too crowded or something.

Anyway, when I got to the gym yesterday, they were talking about boys. Specifically, the blonde was teasing the brunette about her lack of interest.

Blonde: You're never going to be surrounded by this many people our own age again! You should just get out there and play the field!

Brunette: I'm not going to get a boyfriend just to have one!

Blonde: This, from someone who says she wanted to be married by twenty-three?!

Brunette: You're totally taking that out of context! I said if I had a boyfriend, I'd consider getting married right out of school!

Blonde: But you don't have a boyfriend!

They continued on in that vein for a while. Watching them made my own exercise a little more bearable. I was amused - and bemused.

I wish I'd had the confidence when I was in school to say I didn't need a boyfriend. I wish I'd had the self-respect to dump Ego-With-Hair (my college boyfriend's nickname, when he wasn't around) earlier. I wish I'd had the sense of life and fun to "play the field" a little, without worrying about whether every guy was husband material, or even long-term material.

Or maybe I don't. It seems like, no matter which path you take, you're always going to wonder if some other path might not have been better.

Penny leaned out of Matt's arms to give me a kiss this morning, on our way out of the house.

It seems to me that, whatever path I took to get here, it was the right one.

--Liz