Marriage at 18, for good reasons. Thoughts?
My boyfriend and I are planning to marry next year. We've been together so far for 2 years and 8 months. We've never broken up or "gone on a break". We've been together since I was 14 and he was 15, and we are now 17 and 18. In that time we have matured together and grown as a couple. I know we haven't changed yet as much as we will in the future, but our plan is to change and grow as a couple, together. We are the most mature couple of this age that I know of... We know each other inside and out, front and backwards, and we are best friends, as well as a couple. We have great compatibility with each other too.
The thing is, he has just been sworn in to the Air Force, and will be leaving for training between now and 8 months (they haven't told him when yet). I think we will be just fine when he's gone in training... Compared to over 2 1/2 years, a month and a half isn't that big of a deal. But he will be stationed somewhere after training, and I want to be with him. At first we were planning on me going to college where he is stationed and we can just live together, but then we did some more research and found out he can only live out of the barracks (sp) if he is married. He wants to marry me, and I want to marry him. He is the person I want to be with for the rest of my life. Marrying him would also be better for college. I could use his G.I. bill, which will pay for some of my college, and he gets paid more money if he is married. The Air Force will pay for our rent on a house, and our utilities, which I know costs a lot. With that, the use of the G.I. bill, and his extra money he will be paid if we marry will help us out a lot, as I know money is usually pretty tight when you first get married.
He is the most mature guy I know, we care about each other, and truly love each other. He is one of those guys that you just know will take care of you, whatever you need. He's very honest, never cheated, never lied. I'm pretty complicated, and he knows me.
We would wait for marriage, but all the signs just point to getting married sooner rather than later. There are many changes and trials ahead of us, I know... but we want to go through them together. And if he is the person I want to be with, why wait?
The problem is, how do we get our parents to see what we see?
My mom is reasonable. Of course she doesn't want us to marry, but I know she will support me if she knows I won't change my mind. My dad, on the other hand, will not let up until my boyfriend and I say our vows... I know that. My boyfriend's mom though, is unreasonable and has threatened him that she wouldn't talk to him many times. I can only imagine how she will react when we tell her the news. She may never want to speak to him again... I know they are all just trying to protect us, and we respect that, but we need them to realize we are serious about this and support us.
We also weren't planning on spending much money on the wedding. We live close to the beach so we wanted to have a very small wedding on the beach to honor our parents (both my parents and his parents married on the same beach, same place... kind of weird both married couples picked the same place but about 20 years apart.. but hey). We thought it would be a good way to honor them but also have a nice small wedding.
Thanks for reading,
L