The right time.

We really like our new ward here in Indiana. Everyone was very friendly from the beginning and the members seem really strong. Our first week there, I noticed that we were the only young couple without kids. Normally, you have at least a few couples that are newlyweds or young married couples that haven't taken that step yet. Not in this ward. Everyone, even couples our age have like 3-5 kids already! It's crazy! I met this really nice sister that looked like she was around my age. We were having a nice conversation and she was talking about her husband's schooling and such and then she said something about her kids. I was like, "You have kids?" She has 3 already and she is my age! Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a lot of children and I think everyone should reproduce as they see fit. We plan to have our children fairly close together because of Kevin's age. I understand. The reason it made me feel uncomfortable was that later that day, another member (seeing that I was pregnant) asked me how many children I had. I replied that this would be my first. She then asked if we were newlyweds. I replied that we will be married 5 years this year. She had a surprised look on her face and she said something about "starting later." I suddenly felt really uncomfortable like I was somehow weird for waiting to start a family. I know it is not uncommon to have children within the first year of marriage, but I thought it was also common to wait a few years until you are ready. This is not the first time someone has said something or questioned me about our reproduction plans. In another ward, someone asked me if I had a reason for not having children yet. Before I could even say anything, she started this whole speech about how women these days think schooling is more important than a family and that there is no good reason to wait if you are a happily married couple. I kinda brushed it off, cause I knew what was right for us, but I wonder how many couples have been harassed about this. I have had several friends that have had trouble conceiving. Kevin and I had a problem with this as well. Though it was solved fairly quickly, I became more sensitive to the fact that you can't always control how and when you have children. I wish people would be more sensitive to the fact that not everyone gets pregnant right away. You never know someone else's circumstances. It's none of your business anyway! If someone wants to wait, or doesn't even want children, it's between them and the Lord.  I hope that no one ever decides to have children because everyone else is doing it or because they think they have to. When we got married I was only 19 (technically 18 on the day). I was not ready to have kids yet. I wanted to finish school and figure out what we were doing first. It just didn't feel right. It wasn't until last year that we really felt like it was finally right. We prayed about it, and found that it was the right time to start trying. Wow, sorry for the speech! I just wish I had at least one childless friend here so I didn't feel so out of place.