I'd like to start out by saying that I have not gone to any great lengths to hide my age. My readers have detected that I'm still in school, and that makes some of my ideas "radical." I'm eighteen. I understand that most people my age don't agree with me, but most people my age haven't had the experiences that I have - good and bad. This is one of those experiences.
In my post "Thanksgiving," I mentioned my boyfriend, Garrett. Mine and Garrett's story isn't the most normal one, but I know couples who have been dating even longer than Garrett and I have been. However, I can't speak for those couples and their relationships, only mine. And I'll tell you what, my relationship with Garrett is straight out of a storybook.
We "met" in September of 2011. I was a Junior and it was the day before Homecoming. I was excited because I had spent most of my summer with my date for the dance and I was waiting for him to turn sixteen so we could date for real. The first time I had contact with Garrett, really, was a stormy night at the end of May because my Homecoming date, Jarod, and I had decided to see a movie and Jarod asked if we could bring Garrett. Garrett sat next to me instead of Jarod and we laughed and made jokes through the entirety of the movie. I put Garrett out of my mind for the next three months until this day before Homecoming.
Our school facilitates a Powder Puff football game at our Friday afternoon Homecoming tailgate, and while I was WATCHING the game, I slipped in some wet grass and hit the back of my head on a friend's knee while she was jogging behind me. Well, I was right behind Garrett when I fell and he, hearing the racket, turned around and took care of me. He said I probably had a concussion and I should get it checked out.
Sure enough, I had a concussion and Jarod "broke up" with me the Wednesday after Homecoming. I didn't really care though. Garrett and I talked every day in Band while I was too incapacitated to march. We became really good friends and when my town's festival rolled around, Garrett and I became inseparable and we have been ever since.
It's been a year and a half since our first "date" and he is my best friend. And maybe is sounds hokey and stupid coming from an eighteen-year-old, but I know that Garrett is the one I am going to spend the rest of my life with. High school sweethearts get married a lot more often than people think. I know that it's going to take even more hard work to keep our relationship together while I'm in college and then when he goes to college. We pretty much have it worked out. The best piece of advice I can give is communicate. Garrett and I talk all of the time. We tell each other pretty much everything, even the hard stuff. We plan so that we always have something to look forward to.
It's really hard to fall in love in high school. People tease and adults say, "You're too young to know what love's about," but I think I know more than several people. I think it will be really special to have been together for almost our entire lives. It's really magical to fall in love with your best friend, and I'm really thankful that we found each other when we did. Even though it's harder to fall in love while you're trying to find yourself and under the boundaries of being dependent on your parents, it will always be more than worth it to have Garrett in my life.
I always wonder if high school sweethearts really make it, but I always think of my favorite English teacher and her husband. Even if the odds are against us, I truly believe that Garrett and I will make it.
