26.9

26.9 years old. I guess that is the average age that females in the United States are married by, according to a study released by Priceonomics published in Time.

I don't foresee myself being married by that time. I don't even foresee myself even being in a serious relationship at that time. What does that make me? An outlier? A straggler? Although I'm not looking to settle down anytime soon, the statistic does make me a littler leery of where I am in my life.

While I don't want to settle for anything or settle with one person for the rest of my life, I do want to be in a relationship and start to see what is out there. The only thing that really concerns me for pushing out marriage further and further is having children. I know that much, that I do want to begin a family at some point in my life when I have my future figured out.

I guess more than anything I worry for the health of a future child I could have. The likelihood of a child with a birth defect increases significantly after 30. Wagering a stable future for the health of a future offspring is a huge risk, but life has brought me here and there and just hasn't brought me stability or a man. So I guess I can't say that it's entirely my fault.

That number was just a little discomforting for me when I saw it today. Shocking, in fact. As much as I know that I'm getting older, to realize that in order to meet that statistic that it is sooner than I thought or was ever prepared for.

I wonder if other girls in their twenties are uncomfortable with this statistic. There is so much more I want to do before I am tied down with a man and a potential family.