Was Friends even real life?

First of all, you all know that Friends wasn't anything like real life, right? It was charming and quirky, a dream of those of us growing up in the 90's, and completely unattainable. I don't mean having a solid group of friends that help support you and are always there for you. I mean the whole living in NYC in those giant apartments with all of your friends, some of whom are working as baristas, probably making $4 an hour or something crazy. 

No, Friends was never my idea of the good life I suppose, but it was/is for many. 

I've gone through phases of my life where I've wanted different things. There was a time when I thought that I might marry the man I was dating and we would buy a house together and have a family. For a long time, I wanted to live alone with just a cat, pushing forward in my career, enjoying my solitude, furthering my education, and being happy. If I'm being truly honest with myself, this has always been my idea of happy. 

Now, though, I'm in a healthy relationship with a person who loves me for who I am, who puts up with my ridiculously fervent hatred of raisins, who helps me during the dark and grey days, and who my cat loves, too. I can't imagine my life without them, so I'm rethinking my future again.

I'm in grad school and I work full time, but I'd like to go to school even more in order to get my P.h.D. My partner supports me and said that they will move with me wherever I get in. We have one cat, but would love to have another one plus a couple dogs, goats, and a pig. I don't really need fancy things, nor do I get too attached to them, but my partner likes nice things and that's okay. We're similar in a lot of ways, but vastly different in others, like opinions on raisins and Christmas. You're more likely to catch us at home, watching a Gordon Ramsay show and cooking a nice meal, than out and about on a Friday night. 

I guess for the next 5-7 years, I picture us in a small apartment while I go to school. We won't have the nicest cars or the fanciest gadgets, but we will have enough. Maybe we'll get another cat until we buy a house and have room for more pets. We will blog and have date nights and color in hundreds of coloring books, get married and just be happy together.

So, no one told you life was gonna be this way, but maybe it's the twists and turns that makes it out to be the life that you want. 

~Leigh