A few weeks ago I posted a photo of “me and the hubs” at my family picture day on Instagram.

 

 

(he’s pretty stinking good looking, am I right?!)

Well here’s my real, very senior portrait looking photo from that day. And do you know what I love most about it? I asked for it to be taken.

 

 

As I’m sure we’ve all realized, family photos can be a bit awkward as a single girl.

 

Everyone is lining up to take photos with their own families, husbands, boyfriends, whatever, and we’re just standing on the sidelines, probably waiting to take pictures with our parents (no offense, mom and dad).

That was me last year. Loitering on the outside. And honestly, it didn’t feel so great. So I decided that this year would be different. Why couldn’t I have my photo taken alone? Nothing was stopping me but myself, and my own assumptions that I should miss out on activities such as these because I’m single. So this year, I took the first chance that I could to jump in and get a picture of my little family...me, myself, and I.

The photographer looked a bit surprised when I said “I’ll go next!” and there was no one trailing behind me. I said “It’s just me”, and thankfully, she didn’t bat an eye. In fact, she embraced it and became my own little paparazzi, and I loved every second.

 

So why did I do it?

 

Why would I want a photo of just me? To remind myself that I was the only one there without a spouse?

The truth is that I was tired of sitting out. Of seeing experiences go by for other people that I told myself I couldn’t have. So I jumped in.

Do my photos look a bit different than everyone else’s? Totally. But did I still allow myself to participate? Absolutely yes.

 

Single friends, if you take nothing else away from this post, what I want to tell you today is that we have a choice.

 

It may sometimes feel a little awkward, and take a little (or a lot of) extra courage, but we can choose to live this life and have experiences like anyone else.

I ask you today to make the choice with me.

We may be pushing against the norm, our experience may not look like everyone else’s, but gosh darn it girl, we will be LIVING. And what is this life if it isn’t lived?

So come on girl. Let’s go get it.