I'm old(er)

[redgirl-hr]

I had a birthday at the start of this month. I turned 26.
I know, it;s SO old. I'm young. Still.
But...
I thought I would be in other places. I thought I would feel more of a grown up. I thought I'd be married with 2.4 kids...

I'm not.
It's strange. I know part of this "setback" is 2 years being in the army (I'm from Israel... we all go to the army when we're 18. Boys do 3, girls do 2), and a year finding myself again, but still I feel like I'm behind on some grand plan.

I wanted to hear your take on this matter...are you where you thought you'll be when you were kids?  

[Eiji]

I think the natural order is education, work, life partner, children.

We (at least in my corner of the world) are forced in education until, nowadays 17, was 16 when I were a lad. So that's obviously first.

Work, so that you have money to ensure you can live comfortably.

Life partner once you have matured enough to know how and when to give and take.

Children once you've had some time to enjoy life with your new life partner.

The last two are obviously optional, depending on many variables!  

[SilntAngl5]

I agree... I think the natural order is education, work, life partner, children.

I'm 24 and I thought I'd be married by now at least. I probably won't plan on kids for another year or two (I'm engaged, so the marriage bit is almost taken care of). I've got my Master's degree (took 5 years) and my fiance lived very far apart while I was at school... but I feel SO much more secure now that I've got my career taken care of and education completed (unless I go back for a higher degree). Once we do get married, the rest will come when it comes.

Being in the army is different though. How much education/work do you have lined up for yourself now that your tour is done?  

[Isbjorn]

Education-Work-maybe life partner or several.... blaugh I've no interest in propagating the species though. Not a kid person really. I'm 29 and I still don't know what I wanna be when I grow up!  

[Dknight756]

My b-day is aug 7th, I'll be 29 this year man another step closer to the finger in the butt test with doctor whoo whoo. not looking foward to it  

[ladybast]

I'm getting a second degree, so it's the first poll option for me. I'm almost 28, have a boyfriend with whom I'd like to spend my years with, and I don't plan on having kids (childfree!).
But I can relate to what you're feeling. I used to think that by 25 I'd be married, have a nice job with a decent income and would be done with studies... life proved me wrong xd  

[Namyria]

my poll answer was the first one, because when I was younger that was my plan. it hasn't worked out that way. it went started academics, found life partner, kids finishing academic, work. even though nothing went the way I had originally planned, I'm very happy.  

[Eiko Kyaruoru]

Yeah, I'm 25 and nothing has gone as planned. I had planned to finish school (still haven't finished college), get a good job (working at a grocery store), get married (single) and have at least one kid (none) by now. live never exactly works out the way you want it to... I'm hoping I can straighten mine out over the next year or so...  

[Dancing Wheels]

Life doesn't usually turn out the way you plan it.  

[Dancing Wheels]

I'm 38, and I thought I'd have a HUSBAND by now.  

[bellaxxmuerte]

i'm 29 and i've had alot of setbacks in my life. i thought i'd have kids, a good job and a loving husband by now. instead i have no kids, a so so job and a stupid soon to be ex husband. crap happens, but it makes you rethink your priorities. what i would love is to finish my psychology degree, meet an awesome guy, and have a few kids before my ovaries dry up xp  

[I Ceymore Ratz]

Keep working follow your dreams as much as you can, as long as you have set goals your life will be fruitful. I have been married to the same lady for 40 years plus, and we adopted because we didn't have kids when we wanted them but with in a year we had our own. But you know they are all my kids and life would never be the same without them. I went to 4years of college got my BS and went to 7 years of college night school to take other things I was interested in taking. Never give up studying, it keeps your mind active and your body younger even if it is all in the mind.  

[Pink Fregia]

When I was young I said I was gonna fly.
I grew up at the airport. I wanted to be a stewardess fly all over the world, meet people, have adventures. Then when I retired I wanted to write a book about about it.

Well......life took a different turn....

I married, had 5 kids, was a milk & cookies mom, did Girl Scouts etc....hubby got hurt: now disabled. I work P/T, with children.
I am now at age 50 contemplating going to college for early childhood education.

So for me it was: life partner, kids, work and possibly education. I kinda did it azz backwards. rofl  

[Keisaku Hakurei]

I turn 25 in July. People start losing memories at 25. crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying  

[Katilys Heartsong]

Hmm, I always find discussions like this interesting, I think, like Pinky, I ended up azz backwards from the general thinking aswell.

I am 28, (where did time go?) I have been married for 9 years 3nodding
Yep, married at 19 (looking back that was VERY young). He was 21 and we had a 5 year plan, 3 months later we found out we were expecting. eek My now 8 year old was born a month before our first anniversary.
From there life was spinning, two years and a month later we had our second. eek It seemed that every day was in survival mode. But looking back, while it was stressful, we grew together and have so many memories that I wouldn't trade for a hundred well paying jobs or roomy houses.
And even though it was hard to pay bills with out the "education" we found a niche where my husband could progress to management positions and even a national job in the snowboard industry, I have been able to homeschool our kids (plus part time work in the winter teaching snowboarding).
Finally, we just had our third. eek (you'd think by now we'd have figured out how to prevent that. . . xd 4laugh )
I guess we found this to be very true "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans."

If I could pass anything on to someone else it would be:
heart heart Keep working towards your goals but don't lose sight of the beauty of every day life, look for something to appreciate in your loved ones (old or young) EVERY DAY. And let them know how much they mean to you heart heart .