Views on Marrying Young
There are both pros and cons to marrying young. I married the first time when I was only seventeen. Obviously, when I say 'first time' it's a given that it didn't last until death did us part. I've often regretted marrying before I finished college and had the opportunity to start a stable career track, but on the other hand, I've never been the type to really enjoy the single life. I'm one of those people who is just meant to be married, and for that reason, I am glad that I married young-even if it did end in heartbreak.
Even though my own teenage marriage ended after only six and a half years, I was still young enough to start over and achieve my dreams. I know countless women who married much later in life than I did, and they were well into their thirties or even older when their marriages crumbled. It's not as easy to start over when you're thirty, forty or fifty. It is 'possible'-it just isn't quite as easy as a twenty-something year old has it. In my case, I found my soul-mate at the age of twenty-five, while I was still young enough to bear more children-and we've been happily married for almost twenty-eight years, and have raised two beautiful daughters together.
I was mature enough to marry at seventeen. I grew up in a very adult world and always related better to adults than I did my own peers. It was my husband, who was several years older than I, who became unhappy and decided he had more wild oats to sow yet. I do realize that many teens aren't as mature as I was. As far as that goes, many thirty-year-olds aren't mature enough to marry! The age one should vary definitely varies according the maturity level of the individuals considering taking the marriage step. And, it goes without saying that some people should never marry at all. Just as I wasn't meant to be single-some people simply aren't meant to be married at all.
I used to tease my children, just as Bill Cosby's character did on 'The Cosby Show', and tell them that they couldn't date until they were thirty-and that they couldn't marry until I was dead. Needless to say that didn't happen. Truth be known, I would have let them date and marry at any age I felt they were ready. It's okay to marry young if your heart is mature enough to take the giant step.
