By NATALIE SACKET
Feature Editor
I am 20 years old. I am not yet legally old enough to drink alcohol or rent a vehicle. I still have a provisional driver’s license. I cannot buy a car or a house without a co-signer. I am only 20, yet I am engaged. I am only 20, yet in less than 10 months, I will be married.
I realize it is not entirely abnormal to be married in your early twenties, much less while hardly out of your teens. However, there are many challenges and perceptions that occur when being engaged at a young age.
When I was younger, I thought of myself as a rough and tough, total tomboy. I wasn’t ever going to get married; I was never going to have children. Boys?! Gross! Children?! Grosser! I wanted to travel the world, be extremely successful, publish novels, run for president. This mentality carried into teenage years, and later, my collegiate career.
I hold many feminist viewpoints. I think that a woman is perfectly capable of not only holding a career, but a highly successful one at that. I was determined that ambition would be my motivating factor, not a relationship.
But then, I met someone who changed my mind; I met someone who redefined what was truly of value to me.
I met Jordan my first semester of college and fell quickly for his integrity, character, charm, kindness. Now, over two years later, I fall for him more each day. We fell quickly in love, yet another statistic of college sweethearts. And suddenly… all I swore would not happen, did. And I could not be happier.
So here I am, hardly in my twenties, facing an unclear future. Yet I face it with someone that I truly, deeply love.
Here is where perceptions of our engagement get murky. When announcement of our engagement came out in September, people were celebratory with us. Yet at the same time, we felt an air of curiosity that surrounded our engagement.
Instantly I could tell everyone wanted to know if there would be a “shotgun” at the wedding. Despite the gushing about the ring and talk of wedding plans, I could tell that about 50 percent of the people I spoke to were trying to determine if I had a baby bump. Yes, I’m 20 and engaged. No, I’m not pregnant.
We aren’t going into this blind. We know there will be struggles… and many of them. But we get the opportunity to learn together, mature together, grow together, to build a life together. That’s not an opportunity that everyone gets.
Yes, we will face an insane year, an insane life. However, I know it’s worth it. No, I didn’t “give up” on previous plans. I still want to do incredible things and go amazing places. I just want to do all of that with the person I love. Yes, I’m engaged at 20; I’m engaged in a fairytale romance.