I'll have an order of "this is exactly how I want my life to be", please?

Here's a scenario for you: You sit down to talk with a female friend of yours over coffee. You've been talking for a while and begin to get into a fairly engrossing female topic...weddings. Now, not only can this girl tell you where she wants to get married, but also her exact wedding dress, bridesmaid's dresses, wedding cake, flowers, ceremony order, food at the reception, song for the first dance, the song for the daddy-daughter dance, save-the-dates, but also what will be her something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Now, here's a question: How long has this female friend of yours known this information? Well, if you're a girl like she is, you'll know precisely how long. It's for as long as you have known, which is first or second grade. 

To most guys, this sounds like absolute ludicrous. To most girls, however, it makes perfect sense. If you are a girl that does not have her entire wedding planned out, how many children you want to have, and what kind of house you eventually want to live in, you are disgracefully frowned upon. This is only natural. Women as a whole tend to live more in the future than men. We yearn for the day when these fairytale-esque experiences will finally come true. We long for the time when we get to wear out Pnina Tornai ball-gown while walking down the aisle of some gorgeous church behind our bridesmaids in "Tiffany"'s blue silk dresses. And as natural as this may seem to be, I'm worried about how healthy it is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as guilty of it as the next girl. I remember at 7 years old having three or four hour long phone calls with my best friend Kelsey discussing all of these things. We still call each other when a new baby name comes along, or a detail changes in a wedding (I must say though, the last one is usually her, considering she is much closer to this possibility than I am). But I'm trying more than ever to live life one day at a time, because who knows if I'll get tomorrow? 

The other day I was told it was impossible for me to live life one day at a time. That there was no way for a girl to not care at all about the future, to not read into it. And you know what? That person is right. It is impossible, because we all, including guys, have to have some kind of goal or aspiration to keep us motivated. But there is a line. I think I finally found this line, or at least I'm teetering around it.

Work for the future, but don't forget about the present. Try to live as much as you can in the moment, but remember that what you're doing right now affects what happens to you in your future. It all connects. There's no way out of that. That doesn't mean I have to know my hors d'oeuvres menu for my (at the time) nonexistent wedding. This doesn't mean I need to know my exact square footage for my two story (plus basement) Victorian style home with a wrap around porch. It means I need to know that I want to love, and live, and be happy, and live my life to the fullest. Everything else should fall into place...Tiffany engagement ring and all. :)

By the way, I have a new Marry Me Playlist song. "She is Love" by Parachute. The acoustic version. Everyone should listen to it. :P