Jumping right into marriage; Graduating to engagements

     The odds of marrying your high school sweetheart are very low, according to mensdivorce.com; the chances of marrying them are only two percent, and only 25 percent of women marry their first love.

     But, that doesn’t apply to Bekah Hamby and her husband Josh Hamby. They got married at the age of 18 with two years of dating under their belts. She says, “I’d say we talked about [getting married] a good amount. We went to the sunflower fields in Jarrettsville and he asked me [to marry him] in front of his parents and my sister, who was taking pictures for it.”

     Hamby says, “his parents were all for it, mine were not super thrilled. They wanted me to wait until the springtime to get married instead, but they were okay with it and accepted it and they were very supportive.” She continues, “all my friends were also supportive.”

     According to brides.com, the hardest year of marriage is the first year. Hamby says, “It was honestly difficult in a lot of areas, but we adjusted and made it work. I did love getting married as young as I did, though. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of learning.”

     One problem for the Hamby’s was money. She says, “everything is super expensive, and we have a fair amount of bills along with having to pay for groceries and other necessities. It was hard for us to budget on most things at first.”

     The best thing that comes from marriage is formalizing the relationship, according to theweek.co.uk, but the best thing that Hamby’s marriage brought her is “having a best friend that is always by my side, and we are expecting our first baby and it’s been amazing so far.”

     Sophomore Lilly Heath says, “I think getting married young is a bad idea. A lot can change when you go off to college. It could cause you to not want to be with them, [and] you could obviously have a teen pregnancy.”

     Heath continues, “if you didn’t go to college, you would have to get a minimum wage job [and] you wouldn’t have enough money to support unless your spouse is going to college.”

     Sophomore Bailey Smith says, “I only agree with [getting married young] if you’re joining the military so you can get the benefits, but there’s no rush. If I were to be proposed to, I know my parents would support me, they are very supportive.”

     She then says, “I would still go to college though, I would still have to follow my dreams just in case.”