Good Match For Marriage

　　Let me preface my story by repeating some ludicrous advice my mom gave me when I was a little girl: “someday you will see a man across the room and you will know he is the one.”

　　Well, I’d made it to my mid-30's without getting remotely close to finding "the one," let alone in a casual glance across the room. Instead, I spend too many years in relationships with the wrong men. Then, just bcforc the millennium, a new job and a desire to be nearer to my sister prompted a move from Chicago to Houston. With all this "clean start" symbolism, I resolved never again to date any man who was not marriage material. This meant I went on very few first dates and even fewer second ones.

　　One night I joined a group of friends--all of them coupled, most of them ill-matched--at a popular Huston restaurant. They were giving me grief about not dating. "You should just do it for the heck of it." they said.

　　"Why should I waste my time and their money if I know I am not interested" I responded. "It meet a guy who's my type. I will go."

　　They persisted. "Fine, what's your type'"

　　I had been watching a guy across the room (score for mom) who remind me of my dad: big, well dressed and telling stories with hands flailing the air, much to the delight of his dinner companions, all men in suits and presumably his business associates, 1 pointed.、‘him,’1 told my friends. "I'd go out with him."

　　Well, go introduce yourself," they urged.

　　I would not do such a thing. 1 informed them.

　　"But what if you never sec him again" they asked.

　　Then I will meet someone else，“I said. with impeccable logic，”I'm simply slowing you my type."

　　My friend would have none of it. Taskma,ter Emily suddenly strode across the room and tapped Mr. Right on the shoulder. "Are you gay''" she suddenly strode across the room and asked.

　　"Uh, no," he said, a bit warily.

　　"Are you married?"family continued.

　　"No." he said, amused now.

　　"Good," she said. "That blonde over there", pointing to me while my face turned red as a beet. wants to meet you”

　　“Cool”he replied and walked straight to our table. pulled up spare chair and stuck out his hand. "I-li. I'm Rick."

　　A year after I spotted him across the room,Rick proposed .Six month later,we were married. At our rehearsal dinner, Rick regaled the guest with the story of how we met-his version,which has me knocking over chairs. crawling tables and body-slamming waiters to intruduce myself.

　　We will soon celebrate our third wedding anniversary and are planning to have children-we already have a chocolate Labrador. My mom claims the pooch will trigger my maternal instincts and help me get pregnant.

　　But then what does she know?
 

　　在講我的故事之前，先重溫一下我小時候媽媽的一句玩笑話：“有一天，你會看到那個人就在屋子的另一端，你將知道他就是你所要找的人。”

　　唉，我直到快35了還絲毫沒有看到“那個人”的影子，更不用說穿過屋子的隨意一瞥。相反我在不適合自己的人身上浪費了太多時間于是，就在千禧前夕，一份新下作及想要和妞姐住近點的想法促使我從芝加哥搬到了休斯敦基于此有象征意義的“全新開始”，我決定再也不和非結(jié)婚對象約會這意味著我和男人初次約會非常少，而能繼續(xù)交往的就少之又少了。

　　一天晚上，在休斯敦一家有名的飯店，我和一幫朋友聚會—他們都已結(jié)婚，雖然大多數(shù)并不相配。他們都為我鮮有約會而擔心不已，他們說“至少你該去試試”。

　　“如果我知道自己并沒有什么興趣，為什么要浪費自己的時間，還要讓他們花錢”我回答道。“如果我遇到了自己喜歡的類型，我會去的。

　　他們窮追不舍：“好啊，哪種類型是你想要的?”

　　我一直注視這屋子另一邊的人(媽媽說對了)，他令我想起了我爸爸:體格結(jié)實，穿著講究，說話時手舞足蹈，令同桌的人十分愉快。所有人都西裝革履，大概都是他的商業(yè)伙伴我指著他說道：“他，我想和他約會。”

　　“那就去認識他啊。”他們催促道。

　　而我告訴他們，我不會那樣做。

　　“但要是你今后都見不到他呢”

　　"那么我會遇到其他人，”我強詞奪理道。“我只是讓你們知道我想要的類型”

　　我的朋友都不同意我的想法行動派的艾米莉突然穿過屋子，拍著那位“理想丈夫”的肩膀問道:"你是同性戀嗎?”

　　“嗯，不，”他有些警惕。

　　“你結(jié)婚戶嗎.,”艾米莉接著問道。

　　“沒有”他回答覺得有點好玩。

　　“太好了”，她說，然后指向我，頓時我的臉紅得像甜菜似的，“那個金發(fā)美女想認識你。”

　　“不錯啊，”他答道，然后徑直走向我們的桌子，拉開一張空椅子，伸出手，“嘿，我是里克。”

　　在我在那間屋子的另一端發(fā)現(xiàn)他一年后，里克向我求婚了，6個月后，我們結(jié)婚了。在我們婚禮彩排的晚上，他和來賓分享了我們相遇的故事—按他的版本，說我介紹自己時是如何又撞椅子，又爬桌子，又不小心撞到服務(wù)員身上的。

　　很快我們就要慶祝結(jié)婚三周年了，同時也在計劃要孩子—雖然我們已經(jīng)有了一只巧克力色的拉布拉多狗，媽媽稱養(yǎng)狗會激發(fā)我的母性本能，幫我盡快懷孕。

　　但是接下來她還知道什么?