Getting married young

Do you have to get married young? No. But if you’re waiting because you “want to have fun first” you’ve got it all wrong.

[Makeitworx]

Wow, I never realized that nobody who gave me that advice was in a happy marriage.

Ever.

[mariechapman]

He was 21 I was 20, 6 kids and 20 years later and he’s still my favorite person in the world. Wouldn’t give up any of our time together for “fun.” Nothing is as much fun without him.

[kdkay]

I was 18, he was 18, when we got married. We have two kids 25 and 21. We’ve been married for 27 years.
I love that man to distraction! He’s the best man I’ve ever known. I’m grateful my son is just like him!
We’ve walked down the darkest roads of life together. We’ve walked in the sun a time or two as well. Everything we have, everything we’ve done, has been together!

[mrs.w]

I was 19 and engaged. I was going to get married in 4 weeks and by then I'd be 20. I had several people tell me I was too young to get married. All but 1 was divorced. I remember one family friend was very adamant that I was making a mistake. Well, 15 years and 4 kids later we're both still happily married.

[jonaathansimons]

Married her when 20, she was 18 & still in school, very pregnant. Now, nearly 27 years later, as empty nesters with MONEY we're having more fun than our friends on their 2/3rd marriage & still raising kids...

[xochj]

Mine was to do the work to heal from childhood trauma before I screwed up a relationship and my children. Married at 33 and genuinely happy with my choice and healthy and and untraumatized children!

[Sewcrates]

I was 22, she was 20. 4 kids, 22 years, and we're still having fun.

[Virginia-Range-Time]

Get married with someone you can have fun with, and have fun together! Happily married for almost six years, but have known her since we were kids. I told her when we were about 13 I was going to marry her one day, and she called me a liar. That was the first of the very few times i was right. Still remind her of this 15 years later.

[chadcadsonvii]

Best comment thread, brought a tear to my eye, so many stories of happiness. A return to the traditions that work is well over due, it's a shame it's too late for many in the West.

[Timothy_Smith]

I wish I had found my wife sooner, as she is my best friend. Thankfully God brought us together, and for that I am always thankful.

[DJWidget]

Truth. My wife and I started dating at 18, waited almost ten years to get married. We wish we hadn't - we are better together married, we have more fun together married, our love life is stronger since getting married, and our future (the present) would've been better had we been married.

[khensk]

Period literally!!! Its always single people or people unhappy in their marriage advising that you shoukd wait and have fun

[rachaeledwards]

Engaged at 19, married at 20. 21 years of very happy marriage and 5 kids on and I wouldn’t change a thing.

[somersetcace]

The problem with waiting and spending your 20's `having fun` is that you've now spent your entire time as an adult `having fun.` It's what you know. Sure, you can leave it behind for a committed marriage and family, but those patterns are set and will require effort to overcome. The other issue is more material. If you spend your 20's building a career and a financial base, you're then bringing someone into something you've already built, instead of having built it together. I've seen several examples of failure from that alone.

[m.taylor]

They're probably not happy because they see being married and having fun as mutually exclusive propositions...

[dennisdose]

Being married to your best friend is the most fun there is. Not every second, not every day. There are tough years.
But overall the average is just plain good.

[victoriagreenfield]

Got married at 23 and my husband was 21 and we’ve been married 15 years. Happier than ever. We had challenges and really hard times but we fought through and worked together. Everyone goes into marriage with the idea that they can just get a divorce if they get “unhappy”. Commitment is lost. Newsflash, there will always be unhappiness and no one owes you perfect happiness. Love isn’t the opposite of unhappiness. It’s work but it’s the most rewarding work.

[karenshope]

I was 16, and my husband was 21 when we got married. I finished high school, and we had our first child five years later. We'll be married for 50 years in August.

[-ZerDark-]

Maybe not, but when I was younger and "having fun, " I met a lot of wives who married young, and felt like they missed out once they got older. That worked out really well for me.

Take from that what you will. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[rae-leef.]

Well… I’m getting married in a couple of months. I am 18 and he’s 19, but this is the exact logic we used:

Why would we wait because we want to have fun? Wouldn’t it be even better to have fun with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with? Why would we want to date for that long anyways??

I get that people’s ideas of ‘fun’ is to get drunk at a bar and hook up with someone, but I’ve never seen the appeal. I do y even really like partying. We are also Christians who believe in waiting until marriage, so with all of this added up, why wait??