RIGHT TIME FOR MARRIAGE???

OR JUDGEMENT....

This really got me to thinking... This Ecard as much as it is just supposed to be funny echoes what I have heard both in my life and in the media about the idea of getting married ‘young’. When I got engaged (at 18), I had more than one person say to me “Oh! You’re too young to get married!”…....... If I would have listened to them then I would not be where I am at now... I would not be celebrating a little over 5 years of being happily married to my best friend! If I would have changed this huge life choice because those people didn’t agree with my time frame then I would not have all of the amazing memories, stories and laughs that I have been blessed with so far. Would I be as happy as I am now? Another thing, should anybody go off today's perception of the what is considered to be the right time frame since the time frame used by most of the world today is working so well right?!?

What I want to know is- when did one life timeline become right for everyone?

I would never tell someone they are too old NOT to be married. Which brings me to my next question, why does this not work the other way around? The fact is, I know people in their 50's that honestly are not in the right mindset for marriage. Because of this, I don’t believe there is a certain age when marriage is right for absolutely everyone. The bottom line is, MARRIAGE isn’t right for everyone-period- so why would one's age be? I believe that it is a matter of maturity and maturity is not necessarily a direct representation of one's age.

 I don’t want to spend the whole of my 20s (or 30s or beyond) looking for someone like the person I found in high school. When I was 18, I found the person who is right for me..... why would I let him go in order to try to find someone else like him later down the road? Isn’t that counter intuitive?

     
It makes me laugh when I hear- “Don’t you want to travel, have adventures, etc?” Yes. I definitely want to do those things. And guess what! I have an awesome partner to share in the experiences and do them with.

I was told, among many other things (some vulgar) “You don’t even know who you are yet, don't you want to find yourself?” – Well, to be honest, I hope I am NEVER done changing, growing and evolving. I cannot pinpoint one age when I will say “Ok, I’m done and this is me! I guess it's time to find someone now!” My view of marriage is that we will change and grow together as well as individuals for the rest of our lives. I think you are fooling yourself if you believe that at 30 (or whatever magical number you have come up with) you are exactly the same person you will be at 40, 50, 60 and beyond.

I got married 3 weeks before my 19^th birthday. I know, you are gasping right now at the thought! Now looking back, I am fully aware that I was very young and really could not fully comprehend the huge responsibility that I was taking on but maybe that was a good thing. Being married so young, we were literally just starting out, we had no other choice but to just focus on today because we had no idea what tomorrow would bring. Our lives and paths were just starting and we were just so glad to have someone to hold on to in such a transitional period. I can only thank the Lord that he was constantly working in our relationship and that Robby and I were able to literally grow up together. I’m not advocating that everyone do the exact same thing I did and I am absolutely not arguing that everyone should get married right out of high school or heck, even college – I realize that everybody is different!

My point is- just let everyone make their own decisions, follow their own timeline, create their own happiness, follow their own path..... and not pass judgment on them.

"Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others." - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Let me know what you guys think of this and please share if you have had any similar stories. Happy Friday everybody and I hope that you get to spend the weekend with loved ones!