accomplished?

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Wednesday was the day. I anxiously left work and sped home. I skipped shaving my legs in the shower and let my hair air dry to save time. After applying the bare minimum (concealer and mascara) I shoved a sandwich down my throat and headed for the hospital.

My closest girlfriend from high school had delivered her twin babies two weeks early and after a few days of observation visitors were allowed in to see the life she had created. She met me at the fourth floor elevators and walked me down the hall to the preemie nursery. In two little incubators laid Valerie and Viviana, who were just four days old. She had told me on the phone the babies were both around 4lbs at birth, but I had no idea how small they would be. It was incredible to see my girlfriend beaming over the two sleeping babies. Then it occurred to me, my girlfriend and I had graduated in the same class together; her and I are the same age.

I began to get that very terrified feeling in the pit of my stomach, the very same one I got when I had thrown her bridal shower two and a half years earlier. These life changes forced me to think about where my life is heading. The brave woman on my right was married with two children and I have trouble finding someone to commit to a movie date. I started to wonder, how accomplished am I? Don't get me wrong, I am extremely proud of how far I have come. I am getting ready to start my senior year with plans of graduating next May and have no student loans (knocking on wood) as of yet. So while I am not yet a wife and mother, I have done something fairly productive with my time.

Our two different situations has me thinking about how much the role of a woman has and has not changed in society. While women are now more successful than ever, (read about it at Men's Health, ironic right?) I can't help but feel my worth as an individual reduced because of my life choices. I am one of the only unmarried females I graduated high school with in May 2006, my cousins and aunts ponder out loud at family events why it is that I am single, and my mother constantly reminds me "when she was my age she had a husband and two little girls to care for". I appreciate the concern expressed by my family and friends from long ago, but at what point are they crossing the line from worried into rude?

While my ambitious attitude toward education is being doubted by my family, I'm going to hunker-down this next year and get my Bachelor's degree despite what anyone says. After I achieve success in the education system then maybe, just maybe I'll think about being a successful wife and mother.