The Young and the Tied Down

A friend from high school recently joined a group on Facebook called "18+ And Not Engaged Or Pregnant" or something to that effect. Reading this on my page immediately made me laugh, because I know exactly what she is getting at: many, many of our high school acquaintances had barely thrown their graduation caps in the air before they were knocked up. Some didn't wait until prom to become "engaged". Now, I'm not judging (believe me, I'd tell you if I were). I mean, getting married at eighteen definitely speaks to the old-fashioned romantic in me. I am nothing if not a lover of all things old-fashioned, but in an era where the divorce rate is greater than fifty percent; I wonder if a little more caution might be called for. I once read in a women's magazine that people who marry before the age of twenty-five are 24% more likely to get divorced. This totally has no bearing on your marriage, I'm sure, but I feel like today's youth in general just aren't as mature as the youth of decades past. Another factor to consider is that I went to high school with a dense population of Mormons meaning that, while they will marry and procreate young, they probably won't get divorced. I don't know where I'm going with this except to say that these young brides might have been offended when they saw how many of their friends from high school joined that group. Maybe also to say that the people who joined the group might be a skosh jealous. I can see both sides really. My brother married his wife when he was twenty-two, and all I can really say is that when he found the love of his life he had to be her husband; and they're great together. But the girl who married that football player who cheated and lied and dumped her every other week? Maybe she shouldn't be trying for that second child and instead take a couple classes at community college. My non-judging is sounding sort of judgmental, I know; and you may be starting to think that I'm a skosh jealous. I'm not. Seriously, you should see some of these guys these women are calling "hubby". You would know it's no contest if you met the guy I call "boyfriend".