I've noticed that by the time you are 23, more than 3/4's of your friends are either in a serious relationship, have kids, are engaged, married, or married with kids. And then there are the 1/4 who are like you-single (or maybe casually dating), exploring the world, and clearly not willing to settle down yet. Since I have yet to have that-"can't eat, can't sleep, can't breathe" relationship, I often wonder if I am "behind" in my life. I've had several conversations in the past couple weeks with people who remind me that I really should be looking for someone in the near future, but never to put a "time-limit" on yourself either.

As I posted on my Facebook today, "People keep saying that love is in every corner……gosh! maybe i’m moving in circles." It just seems strange to me that so many people have to comment on my lack of a relationship. It really wouldn't bother me so much-if they stopped commenting! For example, my grandma called me a couple days ago. She says that she's really excited I am going on a cruise ship, that I'm so lucky and blessed and it's going to provide me great memories for the future, blah blah. (okay, it was really nice to hear but for the sake of the story, I don't need to type everything she said) Then I comment that I stumbled across a future co-worker's blog. (I was googling for what to bring on a cruise ship) "He has some really great pictures of the ship," I said. "Oh, I am so happy to hear you say 'he'. Is he cute? Think you'll like him?" Really, Grandma? She is always on the case about boys, her and my mother.

So anyway, the purpose of this update was because I came across something interesting today while "cleaning" my room. (I'm really getting rid of stuff, and "destroying" my room since it's all being put into boxes for storage) When my friends and I were in middle school, we had a teacher who asked us to design a board game much like the game of life. We were to put where we planned to be for "The Next 15 or More Years of My Life". The funny thing is that I really haven't followed much of that plan. Let's see…

"Start"

"Pass eighth grade and go to high school" *completed! ha ha*

"Pass my freshman year with good grades too" *completed, honor roll*

"Pass tenth grade" *really, these "plans" where easy, ha ha

"Begin applying for scholarships and pass my Junior year *FAIL! I did pass my Junior year, stop gasping, I just didn't apply for scholarships…I didn't really qualify for many

"Began applying at colleges and checking them out" *Well, I did this backwards. I should have put my "plan" up on my wall! Instead, I applied to 9 colleges, got into all of them, and then decided maybe I should visit a few in person instead of looking at them online…Fail!

"Big Moment! Important event: Graduate from High School." (I guess I assumed I passed Senior year to graduate High School. ha ha I was a smart kid!)

"Get accepted to a college" (9 colleges is pretty good, right?)

"Go to college for four years and work at a bookstore in free time." *FAIL! I did go to college for four years, and I even held 4 jobs at once, but none of them included working in a bookstore… (Timber-lee, computer lab, Resident Assistant, Sports Information Photographer, Royal Purple Photographer, Registrar's Office, internship, etc. Hmmm…I think I did pretty good anyway!)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Graduate from college!" (This is really funny. I spelled "collage" so I got points taken off. ha ha, I spelled High School right, but failed college apparently)

"Work at a bookstore and write books in free time." (I was really into this idea of working at a bookstore. I never even considered that in high school or college. I did work at a library this past year, does that count?)

"Meet someone and begin to date him." (I've dated some people, but I don't think they are this "someone" due to the next thing on the list. Also, this is the first time I mention dating someone, so I guess my 8th grade self decided I'd fall in love with the first person I dated. ha ha! What a joke!)

"He proposes and I accept." (did he see this and know that was the next step for him to take? lol)

"Begin to plan for wedding, set a date, decide where to live, etc…" (well…yeah, not there yet, that's for sure)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Get Married" (aw, this is cute, I made a little "Just Married" sign under it.)

"Continue to write books, while husband works." (apparently my husband is the "big bread winner" as my writing books doesn't make money? Well, don't worry, this is probably not going to happen, although I would still like to write a book one day…)

"Find out that I'm "pageant". Continue to write books." (another spelling error; well that's to be expected, I am one of the worst spellers; I wonder if I was writing this books while my belly is huge)

"Pick a room to put baby in. Paint it and buy all the stuff we'll need." (little 8th grade self, very smart idea…)

"Have a baby shower." (am I throwing this or is someone else? It'd probably be more fun is someone threw it for me…)

"Think of names for the baby." (I was really into the name "Dawn" when I was kid. I'm sure this was at the top of my list.)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Baby is born!" (I never mention if it's a girl or a boy. Sad.)

"Pick a name for the baby." (I thought we did this earlier? Maybe we didn't know the sex of the baby, so we picked it after it was born.)

"Take care of baby. Write books at night." (I'm still into writing those books. How many have I written at this point? Do I just write them or do they actually get published?)

"Baby's First Birthday" (why isn't this a "Big Moment!"?)

"Big Moment! Book is Published and Sells." (well, that answers several questions. My book is more important than baby, sorry baby, and apparently none of the other books were published or sold. Sad.)

"Find out that I'm 'pageant' again." (really couldn't spell that word! ha ha. And apparently, I was really busy! Geez, two kids so quickly after each other?)

"Began to plan to take care of new baby. Watch other child." (wow, that's harsh. I'm so excited about the new baby, that's it now the "other child")

"Another book is published." (is this an old one or one I was at some point working on?)

"Think of names for new baby." (I guess naming this child was really on my mind)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Baby is Born!" (now I have two kids…and after that, I stopped writing about my life. So if that was 15 years from when I finished eighth grade, I would be…28!)

So I guess that means that I am a little "ahead" of my 8th grade self's mind…and a little behind. I have dated more than my eighth grade self planned…but I'm not married as soon as my 8th grade self imagined. (apparently, that should have come right after college ended…well, technically, I did graduate only a year ago…) It's just really funny to see what we think is going to happen when we are young…and what really happens.

I hope you enjoyed reading what I think are funny comments about my silly 8th grade self. As for my earlier thoughts on dating life, well, it's more funny than anything else. My little 8th grade self was very into being married and that I should be married soon after finishing college. However, now that I've grown up, that just isn't the biggest goal right now. While most of the people in my age range are following my 8th grade plans, I've learned that I need to do some more exploring before I settle down. I want to travel! I want to see more things, meet new and interesting people! There is so much more to life than just getting married! Not that there is anything wrong with that, but sometimes it bothers me that people like to mention how I'm not married, all the time.

They often say to me: "Don't worry there are lots of fish in the sea" as though I'm upset about it. I often haven't even mentioned it at all! I have to remember that they feel sorry for me. However, they don't really need to because I am going to sea, and I'm sure there will be lots of men there. And not having a boyfriend, I can flirt with whoever I want, and it's going to be awesome! :)