You can ask single individuals, married couples, along with nearly any one looking for love, how much easier it would have been to grow up with the man of your dreams right down the road? Sounds pretty legit doesn't it? The fairy tale relationship, falling in love in the halls of a high school, and of course the dream wedding, it all sounds perfect. In the event that my sarcasm doesn't seep through the words of my writing let me just say, its just not that simple. Although every piece of me wishes it was.
Taking just a moment to think back to what high school is: you're close but still so far from adulthood, still answering to your parents while trying to learn what it means to be responsible, nothing more than four years of a fuzzy blur looking for the right way to focus your mind. High school is a time when it is simply too complicated to date, I mean most high schoolers don't even understand enough about what dating is.
Here is the part where I confess to being a total hypocrite because well... I'm still in high school, and I'm in a relationship with a man who I believe I have a future with. However let me just say, it is complicated.
Now with that said, I should mention both him and I like to think we're mature for our age. We're seniors who have both completed our freshman year of college while holding down good jobs, keeping up grades, and staying out of any serious trouble. Maybe our parents would have a different depiction of our high school years but for now that's enough said. We're at a place where we are confident and happy in the relationship God has blessed us with, but can't help but want to plan our future together after high school.
This is exactly where it gets complicated. You should see the look on a parents face when their, at the time 16 year old, daughter thinks she's found her God given match. I have no doubt his parents were just as skeptical. Yet, another struggle is the collateral damage when two friends begin to date. Everyone becomes worried about messing up the dynamic of the group and having it all fall apart. Well, all of these complicated things began to happen to us about a year and a half ago, when we began spending more and more time together. It was amusing to watch our friends try and figure us out while we were only beginning to find the God given chemistry we had together.
Fast forward to today and we're picking out colleges and plans for our future, and hope that by God's grace they will fit together in any possible way. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for our futures to simply not match up. We both choose to plan our futures for our selves and not give up on what we wanted in life and if God's plan for us it to be separated and find new people, than that is God's plan and we will follow. I thank God that to this point that has not been the case. However, this struggle and pain would be avoided had I found my match after college, when our jobs were secure and our futures were ready to merge together. I envy the relationships like those in all but one way: I had longer to be with my best friend, and for that I will always be thankful.
