Does this train stop at cliches and expectations?

I turned 29 in June this year.  I am unmarried, childless and as of 11:06pm tonight, have no prospects to fill those spaces on my bingo card of life.  This is fine by me.  It is apparently not fine by family members, friends and loving acquaintances at work that mean well but I really want to tell them to take a flying leap.  There is a path in life that I need to be taking and I'm a few steps behind already, at least so they tell me.

When I get asked if I'm seeing anyone and I respond with no I usually hear 'well that doesn't make sense, you're such a great girl'.  Why does being a great girl have to equate to being with someone? Why can't I just be great on my own?  It makes me question if I am doing something wrong by not being tied down already with a kid on my hip.  When people prod me with questions about my future, it makes me wonder if somewhere along the way I screwed up and missed the turn that takes me to wedded bliss and children before I'm 30.  What happens if I decide not to get married or have kids, does that make me a failure? Hell to the no.

I have opted to take the path where I made some highly questionable decisions in college, traveled to some pretty spectacular places, and developed a career in an industry I love.  That's not to say that my married friends did not have the same experience, I know for a fact that many of them have some great stories to tell their kids (mostly because I was there to witness them).  I feel sometimes like there is pressure on me to fit into the "normal" path of life.  Just like in the board game, you're supposed to go to college, get a career, get married, buy a house and then have kids.  What if I don't want to do that? What if I want to live in Belize for a year and live off the land? What if I want to spend all my money on flying, just for a hobby?  I don't have to follow the path that everyone else does, and that's fine with me.

I am proud of myself for waiting to make sure I marry the right guy and not just someone who will fill this void that society says I should have.  My life is rich, I don't have time to worry about a void, I'm too busy loving what I have. Asking me when I'm going to settle down is not funny, its just mean because to me it says you don't find my progression through life to be correct.  And that makes you wrong.

Life is simply filled with delicious ambiguity and excitement.  I don't think I will ever stop making questionable decisions (although they are a lot more tame these days), traveling to spectacular places and working in an industry that I love.  Maybe later down the road I will just do it with my husband and kids.

Just not now, so stop asking.