Defying expectations

I'd kind of forgotten about Happy Valley.

"Now, listen," I want to say to them--people in my ward, my family, even some of my friends--"I'm not married because I don't want to be." It must be a foreign concept to them, so I try to be patient--a young woman not desperately anxious to be married as soon as humanly possible? My goodness!

My mother is the worst of all, because she puts her concern under this guise of playfulness. She tells me about cute single RMs she meets, or puts in little comments here and there about where I could meet guys. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, but the not-so-subtle hints? Not-so-much.

What is it about this place? I'm almost afraid to drink the water or breathe the air too deeply. I'm attending five wedding receptions over Christmas break--FIVE. And all of them relatively or very close friends! Five! And you know, with the exception of Michael and Whitnee, they've all been dating less than six months. rolls eyes

I. Don't. Want. To. Get. Married. Right. Now. What is so hard to believe about that? I honestly don't. I'm focused on my career, my schooling. I want to go to grad school. If I get tied up in a relationship in Happy Valley, Utah, I can tell you how big my chances are of making it to grad school somewhere else.

If I wanted to get married, I would. If I had seriously wanted to get married any time in the last two years, I would have. In the lovely state of Utah, marriage is not that hard to attain. I could have hunted down a fine RM--or not--started dating, dropped hints, and voila, a few months (or weeks!) later I would have had a nice pretty ring and an apartment and his school loans to pay.

What Utah Mormons don't seem to get is the value in longevity. I am 21 years old. If I get married in this coming year, that means I'll be spending more or less 60 years with one person. In light of that time commitment, I feel well justified in taking my time being picky.

I have nothing against the institution. I do want to get married--just not right now. Right now is about my life, and when the time is right, then I'll settle down. Thus all the not-so-subtle hints? Not-so-appreciated.