Not what, but when?

I feel very privliged to know what I want to do with my life. I know I want to be an actress and a drama teacher, but I don't know when other parts of my life are supposed to develop. My mother has pounded into my head stuff like "no sex till marriage" and "don't get married till you're out of college" but those are big steps and there's never been any guide to anything else. I don't know at what age I'm supposed to move in with someone, get engaged, buy a dog together, or what.

Basically, I've gathered that I know that I've developed not only in a much different way than my siblings, but much sooner, and so I shouldn't base my life on them. I might move in with Mike next year, and *knock on wood* I might even finally recieve a ring from him in two years. Even while the whole "what if we're not together" thing runs through my head a lot, so does the "what if we're still happily together" thing. Every girl loves to be loved in one way or another, and it just doesn't help that while I jump for joy thinking about living with him, I'm still worried about what my parents will think. I have people saying "you're 18, almost 19. They can't tell you what to do!" but I wasn't raised that way. I try to respect my parents opinion even if I don't agree or if it causes a fight, but I prefer to get it out there rather than to bottle it up.

Yet another way that I'm learning that things are much more complicated out here. I'm just glad that I have time to work this one out.