When do you know that you're not in the honeymoon phases anymore? This was a question that I used to ask myself about a year ago. My boyfriend and I have been together for almost three years and for a good amount of time we were in the honeymoon phase. I couldn't pin point a specific point in our relationship where the honeymoon phase stopped but I now have accepted the fact that we are no longer in it.

We started dating in high school. I was sixteen and he was seventeen. Being in a high school relationship was something that was comfortable to me. When my boyfriend and I started dating I didn't even have my license so my parents would drive me to and from his house whenever we wanted to spend time together. After being together for almost a year he went off to college in Ohio which was ten hours away. We had to grow up fast to say the least. This was the point where we needed to phase out of our high school relationship and begin our "adult relationship.”

What does this mean exactly? I'm honestly still trying to figure it out myself. It's a very special to be able to grow up with someone in this way. We both are learning about responsibilities and sometimes these responsibilities take away our attention from each other. We can no longer just go over each other's houses and watch TV for countless hours. Now we both have jobs and school work that are extremely important to both of us. We are both learning how to manage our time with each other keeping in mind that there are responsibilities that we both have to keep up to. Even though we still don't live together our relationship has matured so much since we were in high school.

We are no longer in the honeymoon phase but despite leaving that part of our relationship we have entered a whole new phase. A phase where we are able to build this life together and grow with each other in our advances. Leaving the honeymoon phase doesn't meant that the spark is gone, it means that both people are committed to each other on a much deeper level. They understand that there will be times where they can't be together, however, the love is always there.

It is so incredibly special to me to say that I am still with my high school sweetheart. I cherish every day that we get to be together and grow together as a couple but also as individuals. I am not sad that we are no longer in the honeymoon phase anymore, because now we have built something so much stronger than that and to me that is better than the honeymoon phase could ever be.