On Christmas Day, my boyfriend of three-and-a-half-years got down on one knee, in front of his whole family, and asked me to marry him. Through tears of joy, I told him yes, and put the gorgeous ring he had presented me on my left hand. I proceeded into his grandparents guest bedroom and called my dearest friends and family to tell them my amazing news. After telling everyone I wanted to, we decided to announce it to everyone else, by posting it on Facebook. The news was met with the obvious responses to any engagement. The days following his proposal were filled with seeing people and showing them my diamond. Everyone seemed thoroughly excited. But after a couple of days, people started to make their honest thoughts on the engagement known.
"How are you okay getting married so young?"
"Don't you want to live on your own?"
"You're in the prime of your life, why would you want to SETTLE DOWN???"
"Don't you want to have time to party and live your life before you get married?"
These are just a few of the things I had people ask me about my engagement at the age of 18. Many seemed baffled that I would even consider getting married as young as I am. And I have to say that I don't see what the issue is.
That argument about me not being able to party? That is a moot point. I am not a partier, nor is my fiance. I am the friend that holds her friend's hair back after the party. So marrying the love of my life is not stopping me from partying all the time. I would much rather sit with him watching Netflix than go out and party.
I think the thing that baffled me the most about people's comments is that they were seeking to change my mind, as though marrying my best friend, at an age they think is too young, is going to ruin my whole life.
However what nobody took the time to consider is this: all of this is exactly what I want in life.
My fiance and I have been together for 3 1/2 years. We started dating the summer before my sophomore year of high school. We have been through thick and thin together. I have dreamed of marrying him since I was a junior in high school. So why in the world is the idea of me settling down with him two years from now so baffling to people?
Getting married young will not be the end of my life....
It will be the beginning.
It will be the beginning of my life with my husband. It will be the beginning of a family. Yes, I am 19, and he is 21. But that doesn't mean commitment is a foreign concept for us like it can be for many young people today.
This belief that getting married young will end your life is crazy.
If you love someone, and you have been together long enough to know you want to marry them, why would you wait forever to marry them?
Being engaged at 19-years-old does not the mark of the end of my life. And I refuse to let people act like it is. I am planning my whole life with my best friend. I am living my dream. Why act like my life is ending once I say "I do"?