Marrying Your High School Sweetheart

My husband and I are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary on the first day of school. #bestanniversarygiftever Although we have been married for just shy of a decade, we have been an item for the last 18 years. 

We are high school sweethearts. 

Cue the gag reflex. There are few things more cliche than someone marrying their high school sweetheart, and I hate me some cliches.

But I SO married my high school sweetheart.

When I say my husband is my best friend, I really mean it. We have been friends for 19 years, and romantically involved for the last 18. I can still remember doing math homework on the phone with a classmate, and Patrick beeping in, and my classmate saying “mmm I think he likes you” to which I replied “nah, we’re just friends.” Little did I know …

That’s a lot of years y’all. You know that meme that floats around that says something like “If you’ve been friends with someone for 7 years, you will likely be friends for life?” We are almost at 7 cubed. We are friends till we die.

And while not everyone meets their someone in high school #nopressure, I feel like we were steadily discouraged from continuing our relationship in college. In fact, my grandmother had a specific conversation with me about the cons of continuing to date your high school sweetheart in college. 

Thanks Momo. 

And it wasn’t because he wasn’t liked by my family because they like him more than they like me; I think they just wanted to be sure we weren’t too serious too soon.

It has been a great experience for us. We have never had an awkward “this is my past” conversation, because we are each others’ pasts. #firstkissfirstlove I don’t have to explain things like family dynamics or friend dynamics, or why I don’t like someone or something, because he has been there through it all. We have lots of inside jokes, and we feel like we know each other better than we know ourselves.

This friendship sustains us when passion fades during a pregnancy and recovery and illnesses and surgeries and away rotations. We can hang out (usually watching some sort of Dave Chappelle #ripChappelleShow) with no physical pressures … ok maybe with minimal physical pressure. We have been through all sorts of emotional, spiritual, physical, financial, intellectual changes and we know that we have loved each other through all of that growth. We have been each other’s support system for all of our adult lives. We have been with each other during the losses of grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, friends, children of friends. We have loved each others’ families for so long now, it is like breathing. He has supported me and my family through significant health issues. I have supported him and his family as they coped with nearly losing his sister in a car crash, and the hard work during recovery to restore her body and mind. #miracles Together we have seen our siblings hearts broken and seen sisters fall in love. He is as much a part of my family as I am, and the same goes for me and his family. 

Don’t be afraid of young love!

or old love!

or college love!

or young-adult love!

or middle-aged love!