It's been three months since my life was changed for the better, and yet the question lingers amongst friends and family, "Why did you propose so young? You're still just a kid."

I have to admit, the decision I made to ask the woman of my dreams to marry me was very difficult. At the time, we were 200 miles apart, and only saw each other on select weekends. We made the best out of a very difficult situation by attending different schools, but my heart continued to put the thought into my mind that this was something I needed to do. I spent months praying about whether or not this was the right decision. I knew that if it was, the after-effects would be hard to manage. I thought I would have people constantly down my throat telling me I made the wrong decision, or asking me outlandish questions such as: "Is she pregnant?" 

Surprisingly, we have had little to no negativity surrounding the big news when we shared it with friends and family, and after reflecting on this for the past couple months, I now recognize why I was ready to take this step at such a young age.

To begin, I must admit that my relationship with my now fiance has not been everything that people see when they see the sappy posts and cute pictures on social media. Quite frankly, we have been through a lot.

Since I can now go public with this, I feel that need to share a personal story. For the last three years, my fiancee and I have been involved in a gory blood bath between her parents. You see, when we started dating, I recognized that my fiancee was being mentally abused and brain-washed by her mom into thinking that she was worthless, not enough, and that her dad never cared about her. In all reality, her mom was forcefully trying to strain the relationship she had with her father, and as soon as these lies came to light, my fiancee made the very hard decision to move out of her moms house and move in with her dad. She desperately needed to leave, and for the last three years, her mom has tried fighting a decision she made for herself. This has caused enormous amounts of stress, from dealing with a full fledge court trial, to getting taken to the Nebraska State appellate court as a result of the county judge ruling in her dad's favor. I'm not going to lie and tell you that there were not times I thought about throwing in the towel. It wasn't that I didn't love my fiancee, because I did. I just hated seeing her get hurt time and time again. It's hard watching someone you love get hurt time and time again, and not be able to help them get better.

It was THESE moments in our relationship that defined the whole reason why I knew we were ready to move on. I figured that if we could get through something as crappy as dealing with this trial our entire relationship, that there was nothing that could ever stop me from loving to my fullest capacity. I am also a huge believer in the mantra that if life gives you something good, you do everything you can to make sure it stays in your life.

So no, I am not going through an early mid-life crisis, and no we are not expecting a baby any time soon. And to any reader who is reading this, and is dealing with a conflict on whether or not to follow through with a decision as big as a proposal, just do it. Don't let fear outweigh your faith in yourself. After all, any thought that comes from the heart is about as genuine and real as it gets.