Oh, to be young and 21... To be able to experience spontaneity with other twenty-somethings while reaping no serious consequences. And yet, all around me, I see my friends becoming trapped in this idea that they have to know exactly what they want to do with their lives - AT 21 - and know who they want to be with for the rest of their lives - AT 21. We're all getting closer and closer to the mysterious and overwhelming unknown of life after college graduation where we're supposed to magically become adults with lives like we see in the movies where people are getting married and having kids and kickstarting fantastic careers... At least, that's what the trap wants you to believe.

But I'm choosing the path less traveled, the path my dad paved for me ever since I was a little girl. I'm choosing to wait for "the right egg," and maybe by the end of this article, you'll understand why and will do the same. Let me start by telling you the story of my dad when he, too, was that trapped 21-year-old.

My dad met and fell in love with a young woman we'll call Maxine. They went to high school proms together and had a grand ole time being young and naive, until my dad decided to join the Marines to make a better life for himself. He proposed to her, and she accepted. He left to fight for our country, and she waited for him - at first. But this part of the story is crucial to this whole "right egg" idea.

One day my dad received a letter from Maxine. Actually, it was an envelope, and all it contained was the engagement ring. When Dad told me this, I was livid and was out for blood. How could someone be so cruel and cold to not even write an explanation for something that should clearly have been discussed in person? But my dad told me to wait and to listen to the rest of his story.

After recovering from the initial shock, my dad hid the ring in his bunk and decided she wasn't worth the pain if he wasn't worth the wait. Fast forward, my dad is in a bar with his friends one night in the Philippines and he sees his future wife across the room - my mom. He described her as wearing this beautiful red dress, and when he laid eyes on her, everyone else in the room disappeared. From there, it really was the makings of a movie romance: he chased after her, she played hard-to-get, he asked for her hand in marriage because he knew she was the one, she said she couldn't leave her father behind to go to the United States, he asked for her father's blessing, her father accepted, and the rest is history. And meanwhile I'm just left here thinking how on earth does my DAD have such serious game, and how can anyone top such a romantic love story?

But I promise there's a point to this story. Think about it: if my dad had wallowed in self-pity and allowed himself to think his life was over because the woman he chose for life - AT 21 - didn't want the same, he would have kept chasing her. He could have won her back and forced something that wasn't meant to be. Dad would have never met Mom, and I would never have been born, and this article would never have been written. He would have missed living his life with me in it! Who knows what kind of kid he would have ended up with. He tells me now that he is so thankful that horrible thing happened to him all those years ago, and that God had shaken up his view of what life should have been like for him at that age, because he wouldn't have had my brother and me. He wouldn't have ended up with "the right eggs."

I don't know about you, but ever since he shared this story with me, I've always let life unfold how it's meant to. For God's sake, I'm ONLY 21. I have so much life ahead of me, so much heartbreak to go through and learning to do. I don't have to know all the answers. I don't have to be stuck in one place. I don't have to decide any one guy is THE guy (even when I really like the guy I'm with). There's so much time ahead of me to just enjoy the ride for now, and to learn who I want to be and how I want to leave my handprint on this world.

So, twenty-somethings, if you are struggling right now, or if you feel you are stuck in a relationship you're not completely happy with because you fear being alone, or you're going through a nasty breakup, please, PLEASE remember this story. Don't give your life away to that trap. Everything that happens is meant to happen, so let it. These are the best years of our lives. Spend them happily and freely. Wait for the right egg.