Dear Amy,

A smile is still on my face from my weekend with you and Kyle in Little Rock. High expectations can be a tough master, so I avoid having any why I see friends. But the two days with you were as perfect as things get on earth.

You actually kicked off my six day tour of post-university marriage. I went on to see Amber and Hunter and then Katy and Brandon. It was my first time to stay with girl friends and their husbands.

The three of you have been married for varying lengths of time – four years, almost two years and two weeks, but there was a pattern. All three of you are better women. I know it’s because of your marriages.

Single people don’t like to think about this, and our single and even married friends tend to exalt the freedom and independence of our unattached lifestyle. I constantly read articles or hear advice from well-meaning individuals about how I should be whole on my own and totally happy, sufficient and satisfied. There’s the other side, too, that says we should need and want and aspire to be married, that marriage will take off our awful edges and make us holier (and not happier!).

Who cares about the “experts.” Love secured you. Love made you grow. Love changed you.

It was inviting, warm and everything that is good; I couldn’t get enough of it from you, Amber and Katy. And in an ever-increasing way, it encouraged me to hope that one day it will be my story as well.

Love,
Devi

P.S. Happy birthday.

Amy and I go on a hayride to a pumpkin patch. One of my life highlights was running on hay bales at her grandfather's farm six years ago.