Young

Isn't it funny how "age" and "experience" are all relative?  Your (and my) concept of age is based mainly on cultural, familial, and occasionally personal expectations - rarely on physical limits or historical traditions.  But the stereotypes tell such a different story.

I grew up hearing that Brigham Young University was simply a marriage factory.  (From non-family members, of course.  We are the "friend from high school"- marrying type.)  When I decided to pursue my degree there, people teased me about getting my Mrs. degree at the B.Y.Woo, etc. etc.  You won't last a year there!  I'm sure you've heard it all before.  It's an old stereotype that, in my experience, could not be less true.

My fellow BYU students have married later than my friends at every other university in the state.  Out of the twenty roommates I had over 11 semesters - all older than me! - I was the one who got married first.  Two months shy of 21 years, with a semester in Europe and almost-a-BA-degree behind me.
(I have my theories about this phenomenon.)

Still, I felt slightly cheated.  My oldest sister served a mission before getting married; my next-oldest sister at least had a mission call before her plans changed.

Then I moved back to the Basin, where a different culture prevails.  I realized that fellow high school classmates had married and had one, even two children in the time that I spent at school.  They were in a different stage of life.  It made me think twice about my previous expectations, and perhaps learn to judge a little bit less.

Now my college friends are getting married and pregnant for the first time.  As the youngest of the bunch, I get to play the part of the old, wise friend with years of experience.
Not a part I ever asked for ... but a pretty fun one, in any case!

(And I am SO EXCITED for you three!)