There is something to be said about high school sweethearts. We all love hearing that a beloved couple in our lives has been together since before they could vote or that they have pictures together going all the way back to elementary school.
A love like that has so many beautiful qualities. That person becomes almost like your journal in human form. Rather than learning about your younger self through stories, they experience that same growth alongside you.
The Honeymoon Phase
In the early days of high school, though it does not seem like it, you guys are babies. Everything about your relationship is fun and exciting because you do not know much about each other, and honestly, you do not know much about yourselves. A long-lasting high school relationship is often lighthearted and relaxed. You get to be young and in love. You are each other’s dates to the school dance and your friend groups hang out together every Friday after the football game. The two of you get ice cream together down the street after school and try your best to be home before curfew. You might have your whole life ahead of you, but in that moment, everything feels like an 80s romcom.
You Did It, You Graduated.
Fast forward to graduation. Whatever path the two of you want to take, you decide to make it work together. It is not easy by any means. It could be weeks or even months before you are reunited again, but when you find your person, the wait is worth it. You both began to grow into your individual selves. Your conversations go from plans for the weekend to confusion about your career and pep talks before interviews … but also still plans for the weekend.
The pressure of the future is now always on you. The two of you, both individually and together, start to figure out what you want your lives to look like. As you both evolve, your relationship evolves too. What you need from each other at 16 is not what you need now, but when you navigate and shift your relationship when change is necessary, your bond becomes all the more stronger.
Onto The Future
When your high school relationship makes it out of high school and continues to thrive through the future, you start to look back and see how far you have come. In some of the most pivotal years of your youth, you had the same person by your side. They know every single part of you. The nostalgia of your past together hits you often, but the idea of the future together is increasingly exciting. You start to make plans to see the world, grow in success and start a life together.
Your high school sweetheart has become your life partner. Each milestone you continue to hit, they are by your side. When you hit the point in your lives when you are closer to starting a career than graduating high school, talks about the future become more real. You began thinking about what the past few years of your relationship have looked and comparing it to what the next few years will result in. You start to realize you just might make it with the person you had a crush on in 10th grade.
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