Ever since I went to college and hit my 20's family has been asking about boyfriends. I found one who I actually really like. We have been together for less then a year and family has been asking me things like:

"is this serious?"

"have you talked about a future?"

"when is he going to meet the whole family?"

"are we hearing wedding bells?"

I feel like a broken record when I tell them we've been together for less then a year. I love my family, but good gravy they're trying to rush me down the aisle, and I don't even want to go down it yet. Then I started thinking about college and how a lot of my friends are getting married and some of them are younger than I am. Then I start to wonder, are their families trying to rush them to get married too?

I understand that they are their own people and they decide whether or whether not they are ready to get married but what if pressure from family is a factor into why they are getting married after being a relationship for such a short time.

I also understand that some people want to start their lives after college and being married, having a job and getting a house/apartment all seems so appealing. But for me, I want to make sure I can make it on my own. I don't want to be one of those women that goes straight from her father's house, to her dorm room, to her husbands house. I want to stand on my own two feet.

My father doesn't even want me to get married anytime soon. And I think it's because he knows he raised an independent daughter. One that cares about her education, career, faith, and significant other. Not just her significant other. She focuses on herself and makes sure other people are okay. Not worry about her relationship and if it moving to a church to say "I do." I have my whole life ahead of me. And I plan on seeing where it'll take me. That's right, I said ME.