I’m 23 years old. I’ve been living on my own and away from my immediate family for about two and a half years now. During this time, I’ve developed some of the best friendships I could ever have that I know will last a lifetime. And it turns out that 90% of those friends are married.

Being out of high school for about five years now, I’ve found through social media that a large proportion of those I went to school with are now either engaged, married, pregnant or have kids. I’m so very happy for every single one of them and all of the blessings they have within their lives. But watching everyone go through these huge life events while I can’t even get a text back has just got me a little discouraged.

I’ve been single for most of my life, so I don’t really know what it’s like to depend on a significant other or answer to anyone other than myself. It's something I don't mind in the least bit. But when I do get discouraged and feel like maybe some big life event is supposed to happen at this time in my life, my friends are there to support and remind me that I'm still young, have my whole life ahead of me and should just have fun. But at the same time, their marriages and having kids speak just as loud to me as their words. Plus, most of them are in their mid-twenties to early forties. I feel like I'm on this struggle bus and can't seem to figure out where I'm supposed to be in my life, but what has gotten me this far is the reminder I continuously tell myself:

You're okay. You moved away from the only place you've ever known and made an entirely new life for yourself where you only knew one person. You have a great job, you're going to school to work towards your dream career, and you have some of the best friends who love you for every single weird detail about yourself. You're really okay.

Now there are some perks to having all married friends, and some of those things make me feel like the luckiest person in the world. Just hanging out and spending time with them is like getting a two-for-one deal. So here's a few reasons as to why I find having all married friends is seriously one the best and most precious things that I hold near and dear to my heart.

I love being the third and fifth wheel.

For as long as I can remember, I've been the "third wheel" while hanging out with my best friends and their boyfriends. It was never awkward. We would all just talk and laugh and get along like we're good friends. We would go out to eat or to the movies or whatever. No matter what the situation was, I never felt like I was out of place. And I guess, growing up with that has prepared me for "married life" as I now hang out with all my married friends at B-Dubs eating wings and having a beer or two while laughing and holding adult conversations. I love it.

I feel like I’m everyone’s kid.

No matter what my friends are doing, whether it's going out on their sailboat, driving to the airport or having dinner at home, I'm pretty much always present. I can't tell you the number of times I've asked to come along for rides to pick up their significant other so I can hide in the backseat of their car under a blanket to scare the crap out of them. I usually get the "thank God I didn't do anything embarrassing like pass gas" comment afterwards. No matter what, I'm never really unwelcome and it's come to a point where it's almost always assumed that I'm coming with wherever they go. My friends literally call me their kid. So I might as well live up to my name while I can.

I get the best advice there is.

With all of my friends already having a lot of life experience, I find that I can talk to them about anything. Whether it's complaining about everyone else's life moving forward, over analyzing a text from a guy, or crying about God-knows-what in their bathroom, they always lift me up and tell me that it's going to be okay. And there's nothing better than getting perspective from both the female and male gender. It's literally the best of both worlds; another perk of the two-for-one special. Whenever I'm in doubt or struggling with anything, I always head to one of my married couples for help.

I have friendships with guys.

Guy friendships. Something I've never had before. The really awesome thing about all of my guy friends being married is I don't ever have to worry if there's chemistry or something there between us because they're already taken by my best friends. We can just talk like dudes. I find their friendships to be one of my favorite things in the world. I can be my complete and total self around them and they give some of the greatest advice and encouragement there is because they only want what's best for me. Plus, we can laugh at guy humor and pull as many pranks as we want on each other with no judgment.

One of the best support groups.

Being single sucks sometimes, and my married friends know and can completely understand that. Every now and then, I just need to be in the presence of another human being because it can get lonely. No matter how down I can get, they give their all to make sure I become myself again. It can be through the little things like crashing on their couch, playing a game of poker, or my driving them around so they can play Pokémon Go. It doesn't matter. Just their presence alone helps me in whatever situation I'm going through.

Even though I do get discouraged sometimes when I see someone getting engaged on social media almost every other day, I know that I already have one of the best families out there. To all my married friends: thank you for being you and continuously being there for me. It means so much more to me than you will ever know. I love you guys to the moon and back.