mile·stone

–noun
1. a stone functioning as a milepost.
2. a significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, etc

The following is in the most emailed NY Times article today:

"Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child.

In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so."

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Interesting huh? and it's certainly true. I'm 26, 27 in January and I have completed three of the five milestones. In the next year, I would complete the fourth - marriage - but having a child? That's for sure after I'm 30. Despite what my paralegal Heather says. Haha.

But, I know plenty of people who are not even close to reaching the five milestones and there's nothing wrong with that either.