Excuse me, Time? Where do you think you're going?

The theme of this weekend, which I'm just realizing now, is TIME. On Saturday I drove from Albany to Plattsburgh (and back, ew) to attend my cousin Trisha's bridal shower. What does this have to do with time? Well, six hours in the car with two ipod enabled teenagers is a really, really long time. But that's not all.

My cousin Trish is younger than I am. I'm twenty-two, she's twenty. She has three sisters, Julia (24 I think), Terra (22) and Kelly (17). Julia is also engaged, Terra is married and has the most beautiful baby girl (Hailee) in the world, and Kelly has a sweet boyfriend. This got me thinking. I am 22...should I be engaged? Married? No...right? Then I started thinking, who else do I know that is married?

An old friend from my cheerleading days is married and living in Key West. A once-best-friend is married and has a six month old baby boy. A friend from elementary school is engaged. But then again, the vast majority of my friends are still single, dating, etc. Most people are in that in-between stage. We've finished undergrad, now grad/law/med school is the next thing on the agenda. And after that, we'll see. But I don't feel like an anomaly at least. At first it was hard to get used to people my age settling down and actually procreating. After all, I knew these girls when they were in elementary, middle, and high school. Swallowing bees by accident. Streaking. Cutting up frogs. That kind of thing. So for them to be moving to a stage in life that is so far away from where I am was hard to wrap my head around at first.

But then, if they are happy, then I am happy for them. Not everyone matures at the same rate, or even in the same ways, or wants the same things from life. But time marches steadily on, and we figure things out. We've got years and years to grow and think and plan and laugh. And love.