Things I'm glad I did before I got married

Moved to two different states. Alone. Owned a red Mustang. Learned to carry nine bags of groceries up three flights of stairs. Skated in a rollerblade marathon. Twice. Took an Italian language class for no reason at all. Had some bad dates. Received a six-page long, typed, single spaced love letter from someone I met once. Lived in London by myself. Interned for a US Senator. Celebrated my 25th birthday. Had a job that involved constant travel. Stayed in a presidential suite and had wine and cheese delivered every afternoon. Rode on the Tower of Terror in Disneyland. Ate nothing but frozen vegetables and rice for a week. Met Dr. Drew of Loveline. Drank cocktails while standing on the Colorado Rockies home plate. Attended a pirate flotilla in North Carolina. Became friends with my parents. Learned to knit. Decided it hurts my hands too much. Got over my breakups. Threw away pictures of exes. Attended a World Series with tickets given to me by Jim Leyland. Learned to drive stick shift. Kicked a board in half. Smoked a cigar. Did a sake bomb while wearing an elf hat. Wielded a sledge hammer at a school in Mexico. Learned to put art on my wall. Slept in a Guatemalan cloud rainforest. Learned to love sushi. Traveled to Paraguay hidden in the back of a van. Voted for a Black president. Memorized 1,000 words. Took the GRE. Learned to love wine. Learned to love red wine more. Skipped a day of work because I could not dig my car out of feet of snow. Drove car into a ditch. Sold car with rear-wheel drive. Determined what I need in a relationship. Had my court case make it to the US Court of Appeals. Saw four Broadway shows, on Broadway. Threw a coin into the Trevvi Fountain. Lived without cable TV. Went to Starbucks so much I was greeted by name. Took a graduate course that made me uncomfortable. Attended the Winter Olympics. Figured out my favorite flowers are tulips. Went to a movie by myself. Cried everyday because of a job. Found my passion. Changed my mind and found a new passion. Drank a beer with Layne. Went to John Kerry's election night party. Worked retail during the Christmas season. Ate meat that had been cooking for days. Dyed my hair purple. Went four days without showering. Got a pedicure by a Chinese woman in New York. Fell asleep on a bathroom floor cuddling with Rachel. Became a fan of NPR. Celebrated Thanksgiving in Mexico with a turkey cooked in a bag. Cried until my body was void of tears. Learned to make my mom's lasagna. Spent a weekend on Cape Cod. Rekindled my faith. Learned to appreciate Kansas prairies. Saw the town in Sweden where my ancestors came from. Learned to love without holding back.