6 Things I learned From Falling in Love Young

I started dating my now husband at the age of 18, almost 9 years ago. I didn't really date in high school, I had a few dates here and there and dated a few guys for a few months (not at the same time), but that was really it. I didn't really want to date anyone, I always had dates to the dances, usually with a guy friends, I hung out with my girls or my guy friends and I was happy like that. When I went to college, being an 18 year old girl I thought to myself "maybe I can find the right guy here." I didn't want to date someone I had known forever, I wanted to meet new people and maybe find the guy for me there. On the first day of college (I remember it like it was yesterday) I was sitting in a classroom waiting for Theatre Appreciation to start. I heard a very distinct voice from the hallway and I looked over and saw a tall guy with blonde shaggy hair, black rimmed glasses, black Chucks, and a blue shirt that said The Almost on it (is it sad I remember all that) and I instantly thought "hmmmm, he's cute."  He then walked into the room, talking and laughing with the Professor who taught the class. About a month later we ended up dating, and now here we are. Matt is the only serious boyfriend I ever had, the first boy I have ever loved, and the first boy who has treated me how I deserve to be treated.

Here is what I have learned from falling in love at a young age:

1. You can fall in love at a young age. Now I know what you're thinking, "you can't actually fall in love at 18." To be honest, when I was 18 and just started dating Matt I wasn't in love, I didn't even know what love was then, but looking back now, what I did have for him would turn into love. By the time we had been together a few months I knew that I never wanted to be with anyone else, and that, my friends is love. I didn't know it was love at the time, and I sure wasn't going to tell him the L word just a few months in, but I knew I didn't want what we had to end.

2. You can have a healthy relationship in your early teens/early 20s. I hate hearing young girls talk about how their boyfriend talks to/about them. I also hate hearing young guys talk about how their girlfriends are bossy. It is possible to have a strong and healthy relationship at a young age, it just takes giving and taking from both sides. It is also important to notice when your relationship isn't healthy. I believe one of the fastest ways to ruin a relationship is being selfish. Sometimes you have to see that movie you really don't want to, sometimes you have to sit and watch him play video games, sometimes you have to put the controller down, sometimes you have to go to the mall for the 4th time this week, sometimes you have to watch football, sometimes you have to listen to him/her complain about work for the 1000th time today (these are all things we deal with on a regular basis.)

3.  It's important to laugh at yourself. I don't know how many times Matt and I have both laughed at him for ruining the frozen pizza, or laughed at me because I ALWAYS burn the last batch of cookies. When I do something stupid, he is going to laugh, so I just need to laugh along with him, instead of getting my feelings hurt. Now, there is a line between laughing when its appropriate and laughing when it is not, find that line, and try not to cross it.

4. It's important to be okay just sitting in the same room together. When we first got together we both lived at home and in the beginning when we wanted to be together we went somewhere and spent money. Now, we are poor so we have learned to be okay just being together watching a show, or playing a video game together. It's okay to have nothing to do, just have nothing to do together.

5. Find the thing that is yours, as a couple. I've had people ask me what Matt and I do to spend time together and the answer is easy...table top games. Recently we have started to collect table top games and we play at least one almost every night. We also play Pokemon together on regular basis. That is our time, our thing, and we love it!

6. Marriage is great! We have been married 4 years and 5 months and it has been awesome. Has it been easy? Nope! Has it been fun? Yup! To quote my best friend "being married is like having a sleepover with your best friend every night." Find the person who makes you the best you, the one you can't see living without, the one who treats you with respect, love, and compassion and dating and marriage will be great. Remember, we are all human, we are all different, we make mistakes, but true love can withstand all.