Letters to His Beloved

Dear Single Girl, I don’t know where this letter finds you. I don’t know you personally. I don’t know the precious details that make up your beautiful self...but I know the desire of your heart. The fact that you are reading this means you don’t have a man by your side. You may have just lost him. Your heart might be shattered into tiny pieces that consist of all your hopes, your dreams with him, the past plans for your future life together, and the memories of him and his sweet smile. My teary-eyed single girl, my heart hurts for your heart and I wish I could make the aching less sharp. But I alone cannot. You may be between guys right now. You may actually always be between a relationship and a fling. You want so badly to be loved and to be some man’s “girl” and “his,” but it never quite works out. To you, my short-lived single girl, please just slow down. Wait to be pursued and don’t ever doubt your worth. You are beautiful. You may have always been single and have yet to find that right guy. You yearn so badly to have what all the girls around you have…but it never seems to come. Your independence has been forced upon you, and you rock that life, but deep down you don’t want to have to be independent. You want to be taken care of. To you, my sassy and confident-single girl, I see behind the strength. I see the vulnerability. I see the hopeless gaze. Hang on and don’t give up hope. Your story isn’t finished. Whoever you are, I hear you. I see you in the grocery store with your cute and casual outfit and shiny lip gloss perusing the “meals for one” section. I see you at the gym in your brand-new stretchy pants and sarcastic tank top pushing yourself to be a better and stronger you. I see you on social media with your new and updated profile picture with your good hair day and picture-perfect makeup. I see you…because I am you. I completely understand the “I don’t need no man” mantra that wars with “I just want to be in love and have a family” wish. You are not alone in this season. You are not the first girl to be the last of her friends to get married. You are not the first girl to eat a pint of ice cream because that boy you had a crush on forgot your name. You are not the first girl to get asked at every family event – Why don’t you have a boyfriend yet? These experiences and challenges only some will understand. Some may laugh at the reality of what us singles go through, but I am going to lay it out there. I want to open up my heart to you, my sweet single friend, and share my story and my life. I love the fact that you’re joining me on this journey. I know it is going to be beautiful. -AP