what's wrong with being me...

Why is it that people always want you to be like them, even if they're not happy? I am a bit of an anomaly amongst my friends. Almost all of them are married, have kids, or both and they are constantly trying to get me to become 'one of them'.

The married ones talk about how its so great to be married and feel secure, (although the girls are constantly worried that their husbands might cheat at any moment) that their wedding was the best day of their lives (but they spent a fortune on a giant wedding dress, and food for 200 of their 'closest friends' and are still in debt because of it) and they can't imagine spending their lives with anyone else (I see them checking out other people when we go out).

The ones with kids tell me how they feel so much closer to their partner now that they have a child together (even though they seem to spend so much less time together) and that there's nothing like the love and joy you feel for your child (while constantly complaining about how much of an expense and emotionial drain their children are) and that life is so much better now that they are parents (I just don't see how getting up at 3am to feed a screaming baby seems better than getting a full nights sleep).

Every time I see any of these friends, they spend the entire time probing as to why 'the boy' and I are not married, asking if we are thinking about having kids soon, asking why we are waiting, and delaying the wedded bliss and joyful family life that they are all experiencing. But then in the next breath, they are complaining about their husbands, venting about their children and saying how they wish they could just have 5 minutes for themselves.

It drives me crazy, I'm happy with my life, I don't see the need to be married and I'm not ready to have kids. Eventually I'd like to experience it all, but its not as if I'm 40 and am running out of time, I'm 26, 'the boy' is 28, we've got a good 10 years before we really have to start worring about the fact that we may end up un-wed and childless for the rest of our days, and really, with the way all of my friends talk, would that be so awful?