The timing of things

Do you ever wonder how you got so far off the tracks?  My bestus friend in the whole world became my friend in ninth grade.  We were inseparable.  We both had grand visions of our lives ahead of us.  We both went to college.  He met the love of his life and shortly after college was engaged and buying a house.  I spent the year following college graduation in South Korea.  It was a year of adventure but it soon brought me home to get a local job.  I took a couple of graduate level courses while working and realized I wasn't done with school just yet.  My bff found his dream job and started saving for retirement.  I was in his wedding almost ten years ago and the paths since then couldn't have been more different.
He and his wife became public school teachers and started to travel the world on cruises.  They bought professional people's vehicles and did home renovations.  They made friendships with people who lived near them.
I lived on graduate student wages and bought the cheapest car I could find and convinced myself I would drive it till it fell apart (I'm still driving it today...knock on wood.)  I took on part time jobs and lived mostly paycheck to paycheck.  I was single for a long time then became the serial monogamist moving from one long term relationship to the next.  I didn't find my "career" until about three years ago and even then I was resistant.  I finally bought a house eighteen months ago.  I've had to say goodbye to so many wonderful people because my lifestyle demanded a lot of movement. 
About five years ago, my friend started talking about having a family.  Like most of his decisions I wished that he would wait a little longer.  Not because I thought he wasn't ready, but because I wasn't ready.  I was so far behind him I thought I would never catch up.
Today he sent pictures of his two beautiful kids.  They will be two and four this year, and they will break your hearts and ovaries.  They are precious.  And once again, a peek into my friend's life leaves me wondering if I took the right path.  If I had followed him, I could have had all of that.