Just curious about how and when people came to know what their vocation in life was(marriage, priesthood, religious life,etc...).

Looking forward to hearing everyone's stories.

I'm single by default :)

I grew up in the Novus Ordo and I remember always wanting to be a nun from the time I was very little.  My parents were very encouraging about having one of the children have a religious vocation.  In my mind it was only a matter of finding the right order.  I always felt an appeal to the Sisters of Charity and that was my dream.

When I was fifteen, I learned about the traditional movement from family friends and for the next three years that became my focus.  When I was eighteen I left home to live with the traditional Catholic family I knew because my parents told me that if I did not attend the novus ordo I could not live at home.  I helped tutor their younger children and with any farm help they needed in return for room, board, and the means to attend the traditional Catholic Mass.

When I was 20, the chapel I attended had a falling out and there were serious questions raised about the validity of the priest there.  I asked the priest about it directly in a letter but he never addressed the issue and this made me very uncomfortable.  So, when my parents' farm business picked up and they were having trouble finding good help I went back to live with my parents.  They made the concession that they would not make me go to the novus ordo and I could borrow a car to drive to Mass on the weekends.

From that time I started to look into the various traditional Catholic orders of nuns.  I was saddened when I couldn't find a single dependable traditional "Sisters of Charity" order out there.  I visited the CMRI nuns in March of the year I was 21 for their vocations week and made plans to try out a vocation with them starting that August, but after talking to my confessor at the time (Father Joseph Collins), we determined that the religious life was not meant for me.

Being the only traditional Catholic in my family, I then decided that the safest vocation for me would likely be to get married to have support and encouragement to stay in the traditional movement which I never had gotten from my family.  

There we're not many single people my age at our chapel, and so after a few years some friends of mine convinced me to join Catholic Match.  I was on there for only a couple of weeks before I decided to get off.  There just weren't any solid traditional men on there at the time.  However...  I did stay in touch with two of the men briefly through email who were interested in the traditional movement.  Eventually I told them both that I wasn't interested in keeping up correspondence unless they were fully traditional Catholics.  One of them was in the US Air Force in Turkey at the time and pursued the traditional Catholic Faith devotedly after he returned to the states and then re-contacted me.  I was a bit skeptical at first about his conversion but he was very determined to be a good traditional Catholic.  He traveled two hours to and from Mass every weekend, got conditionally baptized (the novus ordo never had him conditionally baptized when he left protestantism), confirmed and instructed in the Faith by the CMRI.  Well, long story short is that he is now my husband, we have two boys with #3 on the way and I am very grateful that God brought such a good devout man into my life.  

I grew up in the Novus Ordo and I remember always wanting to be a nun from the time I was very little.  My parents were very encouraging about having one of the children have a religious vocation.  In my mind it was only a matter of finding the right order.  I always felt an appeal to the Sisters of Charity and that was my dream.

When I was fifteen, I learned about the traditional movement from family friends and for the next three years that became my focus.  When I was eighteen I left home to live with the traditional Catholic family I knew because my parents told me that if I did not attend the novus ordo I could not live at home.  I helped tutor their younger children and with any farm help they needed in return for room, board, and the means to attend the traditional Catholic Mass.

When I was 20, the chapel I attended had a falling out and there were serious questions raised about the validity of the priest there.  I asked the priest about it directly in a letter but he never addressed the issue and this made me very uncomfortable.  So, when my parents' farm business picked up and they were having trouble finding good help I went back to live with my parents.  They made the concession that they would not make me go to the novus ordo and I could borrow a car to drive to Mass on the weekends.

From that time I started to look into the various traditional Catholic orders of nuns.  I was saddened when I couldn't find a single dependable traditional "Sisters of Charity" order out there.  I visited the CMRI nuns in March of the year I was 21 for their vocations week and made plans to try out a vocation with them starting that August, but after talking to my confessor at the time (Father Joseph Collins), we determined that the religious life was not meant for me.

Being the only traditional Catholic in my family, I then decided that the safest vocation for me would likely be to get married to have support and encouragement to stay in the traditional movement which I never had gotten from my family. 

There we're not many single people my age at our chapel, and so after a few years some friends of mine convinced me to join Catholic Match.  I was on there for only a couple of weeks before I decided to get off.  There just weren't any solid traditional men on there at the time.  However...  I did stay in touch with two of the men briefly through email who were interested in the traditional movement.  Eventually I told them both that I wasn't interested in keeping up correspondence unless they were fully traditional Catholics.  One of them was in the US Air Force in Turkey at the time and pursued the traditional Catholic Faith devotedly after he returned to the states and then re-contacted me.  I was a bit skeptical at first about his conversion but he was very determined to be a good traditional Catholic.  He traveled two hours to and from Mass every weekend, got conditionally baptized (the novus ordo never had him conditionally baptized when he left protestantism), confirmed and instructed in the Faith by the CMRI.  Well, long story short is that he is now my husband, we have two boys with #3 on the way and I am very grateful that God brought such a good devout man into my life. 

So we both met our husbands on Catholic Match! [although, for me, it was StRaphael.net at the time].  Unlike you, we were both Novus Ordo at the time, so Traditional Catholicism didn't come into play.  We became Catholic during our marriage.

As for my vocation OP, it took many years for me to figure that out as I didn't convert to Novus Ordo until I was in my early 30's.  As a new convert, I thought I might have had a calling to the religious life and visited the Sisters of Life in NY.  Although they were wonderful ladies, I had a panic attack there and knew something was off.  Perhaps that was my first indication that the Novus Ordo was not Catholic and that I should steer clear.

Thank you all for your responses.

Wondering if anyone here is single due to disinterest in marriage/family and not b/c of a vocation to priesthood or religious life.

Supposedly being single is a vocation, but it is rarely talked about most likely because it is unusual at least in these days. Such a vocation might amount to a manservant or maidservant, or perhaps excelling at some skill or study for the benefit of others, that doesn't leave enough time for a married or religious life.

Thank you all for your responses.

Wondering if anyone here is single due to disinterest in marriage/family and not b/c of a vocation to priesthood or religious life.

I know several such traditional Catholic people.  

As St. Giles stated, the single life certainly is a vocation.  Usually they live in the service of family or the Catholic members of society around them. 

There are quite a few people who are not able to get married or join the religious life because of health reasons.  I remember reading once that was often one of the type of signs for a single vocation.  Also having a particular obligation to a family member that they have to care for or a something like that.

Father Faber in his Catholic Girl's Guide talks about the Single Life and how many "Old Maids" and Single Aunts actually do more for society than many married people because they don't have the obligations that come with the married life and having children.  

Father Faber in his Catholic Girl's Guide talks about the Single Life and how many "Old Maids" and Single Aunts actually do more for society than many married people because they don't have the obligations that come with the married life and having children. 

My mother has been a widow now for going on 10 years.  She spends most of her days in prayer.  Father Jenkins told her that she has more of a religious vocation than many religious, because she no longer has other obligations or care or concerns in life.