Way back when I was thirteen, I prayed to God about not wanting to be alone. Puberty was just kicking in at the time, and I remember wanting to have a girl to hold and sleep next to at night. Thirteen year-old boys rarely know what they're asking for, and I was no exception.

I guess God looked around the entire planet and couldn't find a single girl who was right for me, so he had to start from scratch. They say He has quite a sense of humor. I have no doubts about that because the girl meant for me would always be a little less than fourteen years younger than me. Her name is Maria, and I am marrying her in two weeks.

It all started quite innocently. I was acting in a play called "Ozma of Oz" at The Albuquerque Little Theatre, and at the only cast party, a young woman from the backstage crew came up to me during a game of Spin The Bottle and laid a big smooch on me. I thought it was nice, but I didn't follow up on it. I assumed she was just having fun on a Saturday night before the play closed the next day.

She called me up the next week, and we agreed to go to dinner together. We had a nice time and decided to see each other again a week later. It was my strategy to only date a woman once a week, so she would not tire of me too quickly. This was a problem I was having at the time. If you're a bachelor in your thirties, you've come to realize you may not be as charming as you think. Also, whatever old thoughts of what you wanted in a girlfriend had been thrown out the window. You considered what came along, and in my case, I usually let them go along soon after.

For some reason, I didn't let this Maria girl go on her way after a little while. She was nice & cute & simple & fun, so we saw each other once a week for an entire year. This was impressive for me because I had never kept a girlfriend for over a year. In the second year, she moved to neck of the woods to an apartment complex about eight blocks from me. Seeing each other once a week became two or three times a week.

We grew to love each other. First physically, then mentally, and finally spiritually. Not in any specific religious sense, but in a special way neither had ever experienced before. Of course, Maria had much less experience with relationships than I had, and I always assumed she would wake up one day and be frightened or embarrassed by having a boyfriend a decade and a third older than her. She never did. She continued to love me.

This love manifested itself in the form of our daughter, and it took our relationship to the next level. Maria moved in with after the first trimester of pregnancy. Although we had no ceremony or legal documentation, I've always felt that were practically married from the moment she moved in. I've never been big on the law or any church knowing my business, and even with all our love, I had doubts. I still wasn't sure if we could live together, and I wanted to be sure.

We survived the first six months of Donna Rose's life before I popped the question. I knew Maria wanted to get married all along, and she bided her time without complaint. I figured if we could handle all the trials that go along with raising an infant that we could handle almost anything life throws at us. Maria accepted my proposal, and after over a year of being engaged, the time has come.

Less than two weeks from now on May Day, Maria and I will have our wedding. It will be a Christian ceremony, as per her request. I don't mind because I still remember praying to that Christian God for a girl over twenty years ago. We will be married by the same preacher who married Maria's parents, and we are taking pre-marriage counseling from him. With a ceremony and a celebration, we will be hitch for what we plan to be the rest of our lives.

I have no illusions about the hazards of getting married. One out of two ends in divorce. The stress of paying bills, raising a child, generational & maturity differences, and the day to day struggles of modern life have all made it clear that the phrase 'Happily Ever After' is just for fairy tales. Keeping a marriage together will take a lot of effort, but deep down, we still have that same love that has kept us together for four years now.

No matter what, Maria has loved me more than all other women combined and continues to do so on a daily basis. It doesn't sound so hard, but she's the only one to do that. She is The One. On May Day, our wedding will occur, and the rest of our lives will be pledged to each other.

That thirteen year-old version of me finally gets his wish.

Chris Jungle vows to only marry once.