It was summertime six and a half years ago that I noticed him. We both worked as camp counselors at the same summer camp. I remembered him from the summer earlier, but we only really knew each other in passing. This year, his group sat across mine in the morning for drop off, so I couldn't help but see him every day. It didn't take long for the two of us to become friends. Best friends, really. I was the one he would come to about girl problems. I would give him advice, and we would talk for hours each day; in person at camp, and after camp on the phone.
About three weeks into camp, things started to change. I started getting annoyed whenever he would bring up another girl to me. I had no idea why. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I was starting to fall for him. Two weeks later, our daily conversation had nothing to do with other girls, and he made sure he gave me a hug before I left for the day, something he had never done before. That was the day it all changed. That was the day we became us. This was six and a half years ago, at the ages of 15 and 17.
We are grown adults now, he's in his last year of college at the age of 21, and I am in this crazy world we call "adulthood" and I am 23 years old. And yes, we are still very much in love.
I get the same remarks all the time: "How do you know he's for sure the one? I mean, he's the only serious relationship you've ever been in," and "Don't you ever just want to go out and be single?" and of course, "Wow, six years?! But you're so young!".
To answer these questions as simply as possible, yes he is the only serious relationship I have ever been in, and yes I 100% see myself spending the rest of my life with him. I have watched relationships as long as ours crumble and both partners lose an interest. I am not putting us on a pedestal in any way, but this has not happened. Yes, of course, we have had our issues, but ultimately we both know that this is the person we want to be with. I haven't been with anyone else, but then again, I really don't want to.
Do I ever think about what it would be like to be single? Of course I do. I haven't been single since I was a senior in high school. I didn't have those "crazy college years" and there are times when I see my girlfriends out dancing with a bunch of different guys and I wonder what it's like. Yes, I am curious, but that doesn't mean that I would throw away my relationship for it.
My relationship is something I believe in. I am with a person who makes me happy beyond words. He doesn't control me, he doesn't get mad at me when I tell him I'm going to hang out with my girlfriends for the night, and when I do hang out with them, he isn't blowing up my phone with, "Why are you ignoring me?" texts. We have trust, and that's what makes us work.
Yes, we are young, but we are also extremely happy. I would not be in this relationship if I wasn't 100% happy. I shouldn't have to explain why I choose to be in a relationship rather than "live my 20's" and be single. For others, living their 20's is about being single and independent, and that is fine. For me, I am perfectly happy with living my 20's, and every other age after that with the person I am so deeply in love with.
I am very lucky to have found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with at such a young age. I do not feel that I am missing out on anything in life, I feel like I am soaking in everything life has to offer.
