We live in a society where young love is seen just as a stepping stone to growing up, where “you don’t even know what true love is” is commonly thrown around, and discrediting the people who feel like they have found the purest form of feeling at a young age is acceptable. In some cases these assumptions are true -- heartbreak is common and relationships are taken lightly -- but that is not fair to the people who still see the universe in their partner's eyes.
High school is a time of complete and total chaos -- in finding yourself and who you are not, in discovering what path your life will take you and who it will take with you. It is not easy. Being single most of my high school experience, I must say being alone and finding myself was already hard enough. When you meet the love of your life, you have to learn to grow as an individual by someone else’s side. To grow and develop into exactly who you are meant to be is even tougher under someone else’s influence. Young love stands through this. Young love accepts the changes and the chaos and the many paths, and though it may not be easy to transition to and from, if you hold on, you will have seen the person you love through this important journey.
College is a time for mistakes; it is a time to take chances and try new things and regret them later. Everyone always pushes waiting until you are older to be in a serious relationship, but if you can be in a serious relationship and stay in that relationship even with the obstacles life throws your way, why wait?
It is amazing to watch love grow. It is amazing to stand beside your best friend through huge life choices and love them despite how many times they change their mind.
I met the love of my life when I was 18 years old. My senior year in high school I heard every reason that we should break up before I left for school, but despite common opinions, love stood strong. We stayed together through a transition to college, to seeing each other 95 percent less, through choosing a major, becoming a real estate agent, moving houses, sickness, and too many other obstacles to count. You see, I think that is the point of love -- to push through the challenges no one thinks you can and to come out of it in an even deeper connection. Once you go through life together, you know each other’s hearts. You have seen the highs and the lows and you stayed together. Despite failures and bumps in the road, you have someone to dance in your PJs with when life seems to be against you. You have someone to wake you up at midnight when you are hogging all the covers and someone to laugh about it within the morning. You have someone who knows how you take your coffee (you won’t drink it with too much sugar). You have a new family that finds your quirks oddly entertaining, and you have too many memories to count. You have a love that can last because it has lasted.
As the wisest woman I know said as I talked to her about writing this article:
“Love stands strong through all, through all the waves life throws at us, love stands.” -- Scottie Hill
