Summer 2013: From High School to Housework

          After dating for more than a year and a half, Aaron and I decided that we wanted to do something crazy. Something so crazy that only two people who are madly in love could ever make work; we decided to get married.  Normally, this is something that most madly in love couples who've been together for a while would think isn't so crazy. Ready for the crazy part? We were just about to start our senior year...in high school! Oh, the doubt, gossip, and ridicule..."Is she pregnant?" "How far along is she?" "Will it last?" Yes, folks, we heard it all. 

          Planning a wedding is fun and all, but when you're 17 years old bridal boutiques and vendors tend to not take you quite as seriously as the 25 year old with a college degree and three carat engagement ring.  With the shock of hearing that a 17 year old is planning her wedding comes a facial expression that must have been known city wide.  It looks something like the face of someone who has just been informed that pigs really can fly. Don't even get me started on the hundreds of questions I was asked about if I was "sure" I wanted to get married right after I graduated as if I hadn't given it enough thought to be buying a wedding dress or paying for a cake.  It is one thing to be doubted by a vendor or store owner, but it is quite another to be doubted by family.  Though I was missing two important people on one of the most important days of my life, I still had enough love and support to supply my marriage for a lifetime.

          Despite the facial expressions and the annoying questions, I never had one single doubt about getting married when we'd planned to.  We put an extreme amount of thought and prayer into the timing and I wouldn't change a thing.  The questions and looks did, however, give me a realization.  We tend to put an age limit on things.  Though I fully support most of them, (i.e. drinking limit, getting into certain movies, etc.) not everything requires one.  I was not the girl that spent her high school career drinking, partying, and hoping that "one picture" doesn't get around.  I was not the girl that slept around and dated and kissed as many boys as I could.  I was the girl who had a scrapbook full of wedding ideas for every season of the year.  I was the girl who didn't believe in missionary dating, settling for the guy who is "almost a kind of Christian," or letting him stop his habits AFTER agreeing to date him.  I was the girl who didn't do those things and now I'm the girl who is happily married to a hard working man of God.  So, as I sat next to my husband in our peaceful apartment on a Saturday night, I thought to myself, "That's pretty awesome. I want to write about it." And so came...the confessions of a teen aged wife.