Did I miss an invite somewhere?

Okay, I know I've posted on this before, but here we go again.

Did I miss an instruction book or something somewhere? My cousin, who is a whole month and a half older than I am, is getting married next summer. My eldest cousin, who is somewhere around 27 or so, hasn't gotten engaged yet. Her sister, the next in line for age, isn't engaged. But my 21-year old cousin is!?

I know so many people around or at my age, who are engaged, married, or somewhere around there. My mother, who in the past has said she and my father would have serious reservations about me *living* with a guy, has said that if I was dating someone for awhile and said I was getting married, she wouldn't be against it. Uh huh. My most current ex-boyfriend (the ex-, for those of you who follow the trials and tribulations of my website) and I have dated off and on for about 5 years... and she says that she wouldn't consider him. She said that if he and I were serious about each other, we wouldn't be seeing other people.

That's funny, considering she broke up with my dad. As well, I didn't exactly want to go from 8 years of relationships (with him and another guy) into deciding at 18 or 19 that I was going to go from dating to getting engaged and married just like that. I want to live a little, live on my own, date other people... does that make me a bad person? Did I miss out on something somewhere?

*sigh* People are funny. Life is strange. I want my own apartment, and a job. I feel like I'm running behind everyone and not even close to catching up.