I'm Nineteen. And I'm Married.

I'm writing this, not in spite of anyone but because I have felt like it's something that needs to be addressed for a long time. I never thought that someday I would be ashamed of telling people how old I was but once I reached my second semester of college I felt this frantic need to keep my age a secret. I didn't want people to know because..... I was in love. Yep, you read right! In love at eighteen? Now who could do that?! and more appalling than that? I WAS GETTING MARRIED! The judgement started immediately. Which definitely put a little bit of a strain on my relationship. It made me second guess all of my decisions and made me wonder if I was doing the right thing up until I actually got married because people made it sound like the worst decision I had ever made. How can getting married in the temple be a bad thing? And boy am I glad I didn't listen to anyone.
Now do I think that getting married young is for everyone? NOT AT ALL! Every single person is different, so different things are going to be right for different people. All of my friends but a very small handful are on missions. Even the girls. Amazingly the small handful still home are all married in the temple and happy or headed in a healthy direction of life. But do I look back and think, I wish I would have gone on a mission? Absolutely. Mostly for selfish reasons but sometimes I do. Do sometimes I look at my cousin and single friends and think, man I wish I could still go to dances and feel the excitement of getting ready for a date? Occasionally I do.
But getting married has been the biggest blessing in my life. My husband is my very best friend and I am so glad that I get to date him for the rest of eternity! When I get those envious feelings of missing out on dating I remember how awesome it is that I never have to go home after a date, and every day can be a date if you make it one. A lot of people have asked if I felt like we rushed into marriage too fast. I don't think we did at all. I was the first person to say things like, who gets married young and who gets married without knowing someone for at least a year? I had a missionary out and I was planning on going on a mission myself when I met Luke and two weeks after we met we were talking marriage. It was the strangest sensation. We just knew we needed to be together and that's the ONLY way to explain it.

We were engaged three months to the date that we met and then married almost exactly six months later and I haven't regretting it a moment since.
A friend once said that in dating you learn a lot about a person. You learn about their pet peeves and their likes and dislikes and the things that make them feel better. I agree with that one hundred percent. That's why I am committed to continue to date even though I'm married (my husband that is!). You will never know everything about someone. My parents still find things out about each other and they've been married for over twenty years. People change and so you'll never cease learning. And hey! Dating while your married can still be fun, sometimes more fun than dating while you're single!
For some people, getting married fast isn't the best. But for me it was!