Making your own milestones

It feels like we go through life with a built in checklist that society has programmed into us from birth. We move from goal to goal starting with childhood. I worked hard in high school to earn the good grades to get into college. Then it was about getting a big girl job after graduation, moving out, getting married- you get the picture. I call it the life script. We are raised to believe that the life script's purpose is to serve as our road map in life. I'm not saying it is good or bad, obviously I have used it to mark my life accomplishments along my 32 years. But what happens if your life choices have you straying from the prescribed path? Sometimes I feel this way since I have decided not to have children and I'm already married. Have I marked off my last milestone?

In all seriousness I know that is not true and that I have many adventures left in my years. I can't help but think of that Sex and the City episode where Carrie gets show shamed and talks about how much time and money she has spent on celebrating other people's life choices like marriage and having kids. She makes a comment to Charlotte on how Hallmark doesn't make a Congrats on not marrying the wrong guy card and that society only celebrates certain life choices. I can't help but agree with the lovely yet neurotic Ms. Bradshaw. While I'm happy with the choices I have made and will continue to make, I can't help but feel like I'm driving around without any navigation. I'm at that age where my Facebook is filled with pregnancy announcements, and now that I have been married a full year strangers love to inquire about the status of my uterus. In the last month or so the husband and I have been seriously discussing where we see life taking us next. The kind of conversations that start with a glass of wine (or two) and leave you giddy excited about the next chapter. Living somewhere in between post wedding and no cute gender reveal baby announcement is my reality. A reality that can at times be just the mundane details of married life, but can also be a blank canvas for new adventures. So maybe I will just have to be content with making my own milestones.