Around 10 years ago, if you told me I'd be in a relationship with the kid that sat at the bench in front of me in 7^th grade Science class, I'd think you were crazy. But here I am.

Our relationship's journey hasn't been the easiest. There's been ups and downs and everything in between. At the end of the day, it wouldn't be real if it wasn't like that.

For the longest time, we were just the awkward teenagers who were too afraid to express our feelings. We spent most of high school playing this (exhausting) game of cat and mouse. Talking on and off and got getting anywhere.

We were close friends but that was it. We both knew there was more there but were both never willing to admit it.

Eventually, we started dating senior year. The end of senior year. Which turned out to not be the best idea since we were graduating and going our separate ways.

That summer resulted in lots of arguments and an inevitable break up a month before I left for New Hampshire for what I thought was going to be a new start for me. At the time, the break up was horrible but now I understand why it needed to happen.

Our first go at a relationship lasted four months.

New Hampshire didn't work out and I found myself back home. A few days later I got a text from my boyfriend (who then was still my ex) and we reconnected and once again had arguments and hard feelings that hadn't changed from the months prior.

I spent a year fighting my feelings and being in denial about our relationship. I didn't want to get back together because I was afraid it was just going to end again.

A year and six months after we broke up, we got back together.

Now, it's been just over a year and six months of dating "officially" but our journey has been much longer than that. Almost 10 years.

Now you might be asking, why? Why put yourselves through that?

Well, I can't speak for him but for me, if it's worth it, you just know it. I would be lying if I said I wasn't willing to give up at some point but I'm glad I didn't.

I'm dating my best friend. I think because we had that break-up and time to evaluate who we are as individuals and who we are as a couple, that made our relationship so much better.

It's easy to give up on someone. It's easy to write them off as the "problem" in the relationship. The hard part is admitting your faults and talking through/accepting theirs so that you both can work together for the sake of your relationship.

At the end of the day, relationships are work but "work" tends to insinuate negativity and hardship. Instead, look at it as effort and progress, as something worth fighting for because the result means so much more than anything you could have ever asked for.

Don't give up on your relationship if it gets hard. The best things in life are worth fighting for.