"But why did you REALLY get married?"

I have been asked this question more times than I care to count, but it never gets less offensive or infuriating. To me, it seems like a simple thought process of deciding that something is just best not to say out loud. But common sense so obviously gets overlooked by some people.

My wonderful husband and I have been married for just shy of two years now, and it's been two amazing years that make me look fondly to the future that we will spend together. But I would be lying if I said those years were easy. Not because we weren't ready, or really any reason that has to do with us. The thing that has been the most difficult for me is the questions. These are just a few examples of the questions I get asked almost daily:

"Is your wedding ring real?"

"WHY did you get married though?"

Followed with:

"But what's the real reason?"

"What did your parents say?"

"Don't you think you're a little young?"

I know that the people asking these questions don't mean any harm but, in all honesty, it makes me sad. When my husband and I got engaged I was 20 years old and he was just short of 19 years old. I know it sounds crazy but we knew that we would never want to be with anyone else. No, I was not pregnant (not that there's anything wrong with that), we weren't doing it for any other reason other than the fact that we love each other and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We were engaged for just short of a year and married when I was 21 and he was 20.

The fact that he could not legally consume alcohol at our wedding made me laugh more than I'll admit right now. The reason it saddens me is that it seemed impossible to the people asking me these questions that I may have married for love and nothing else. I think in a time where half of our country's marriages end in divorce, it can't be a bad thing we were so in love we couldn't wait one more moment to tie the knot. And this knot is like the knot in your iPod headphones, it's never coming loose and every time you think it's about to, you put it down, and then it's tighter than the first time.

The most interesting part of this entire thing is the fact that I was asked these questions by a supervisor in the workplace during a lunch break one day. It baffled me that someone 20 years my senior did not have the tact to realize that not only were her questions rude and judgmental but also inappropriate for the setting we were in.

I smiled and answered her questions politely, but I was very uncomfortable doing so.

Marrying young was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and planning by both my husband and I, so that we could support ourselves and still reach the goals that we have laid out for our family now and in the future. We both work and go to school full time, have a puppy named Ellie that keeps us on our toes in our down time (what little of that there is) and have dreams and goals that we are reaching on a daily basis. No, I don't think that marrying young is right for everyone, but before you just assume things about someone's relationship it may be a good idea to get to know them first.

The next time that someone asks me why I got married as if there should be some insane reason I'm just going to give this face:

and call it a day.