marriage among babes...[Soapbox #1]

I've said it once and I've said it twice....kids these days are getting married WAY too young! Has anyone ever looked up the statistic of how long marriages last among couples who get married just out of high school? Or even in their early college careers? Recall when you first left home to start college. You were the low man on the totem pole and you seemed to be on the edge of taking a huge step into the unknown. You were expected to know what you wanted to do, apply yourself to achieve your goals in an efficient time frame, and even though you are complete independent for the first time in your life, you were expected to behave as a full adult. Yeah right! I barely knew how to operate a washer and dryer when I left for college, much less try to take on all the responsibilities of adulthood. Who in their right mind would be ready for marriage at that age?? Now consider how it felt when you finally finished your college degree and graduated. You are plunged from a world where you create your own time schedule based on class availability to one where you are forced to get up at the butt crack of dawn every morning and head off to your 8-5 job, which you may or may not like. In your first professional position you are like a tadpole swimming in a big pond, learning your way and continuing that journey on the path to true adulthood. Honestly, I think people should wait to get married until their late 20's. As a person you go through a transition when you start college, then again when you start your first professional position...and finally, after you've gotten a few years under your belt, you see things in a different light. That 8-5 job doesn't seem so bad anymore and all of a sudden you're buying a house or taking on additional responsibilities with barely a blink of an eye.

I'm certainly not the same person I was in high school. I've had old high school classmates tell me that they are amazed at how much I changed. (I say thank goodness for that!) My mom says I finally found my backbone. LOL It's still a little too flexible sometimes, but I have to agree. I can feel the difference in my outlook, the way I consider things, my increasing interest in politics and all sorts of small changes that make up the new me. I can speak with confidence, make executive decisions when necessary, accept consequences of my actions, and wish for at least respect and consideration from coworkers, if not a working friendship. I no longer feel I have to have the approval of others before doing something, nor do I feel it necessary to have everyone like me. If they don't, oh well. It's their loss.

I'm not antagonistic or provoking by any means, but I am full of mischief. It takes people a while to realize that though because I'm really quiet around strangers. Those who know me well, and whom I know well, are on the receiving end of my heckling and pranks. If I like someone, I give them a hard time. If I don't like them, I hardly say anything at all but am always polite (and a little distant), sharing as little as possible.

My point is that kids don't always give themselves a chance to learn who they really are before jumping into something as serious as marriage. We change so much on our journey to adulthood, and most rapidly during the first eight years after high school. That's all. :)

Well, that's enough soapbox opinions for one night....everyone have a fantastic weekend.