Can I just do a brief exercise with all of you over the age if 17? Think about the guy (or girl) you were dating when you were 17? What were your hopes and dreams with said boyfriend or girlfriend then? How old are you now? Do you still have the same hopes and dreams with that boyfriend or girlfriend that you did then? If not, why? If so, why? If you are no longer dating the person you were dating when you were 17, and are now either dating or married to someone else, do you feel you made a mistake and should have tried to maintain or revive a relationship with the person you dated when you were 17? I will start this off. I was convinced I was going to marry the guy I was dating when I was 17. I was so stupid I actually followed him to college. This ended up being a good decision but the school ended up being PERFECT for me, and as a bonus I met my lifelong best friend!! On the other hand I broke up with my boyfriend a few months into freshman year when I developed a big time crush on a guy in my dorm who was a biology major in most of my classes. My ex transferred to a different college after our sophomore year. I found out after college that he had a one night stand with some random girl a few years later and got her pregnant. I am 41 now. I am so completely different than I was when I was 17 that I can hardly recognize myself!!! Doing things I never thought I would want to do, living someplace I never thought I would live, I’m still me but a much different version of myself! Married to an awesome hubby! It’s our anniversary today! Can’t imagine being married to anyone else. This is what my life was supposed to be and I am happy I am living it! Can’t imagine for one second thinking that my life “should have been” something else. I’ll go one step further. I am divorced. This is my second marriage. My hubby has raised my 12 year old cause his dad doesn’t care about him at all. My first husband decided he didn’t want the responsibility of being a dad after my son was born. There isn’t a day I regret divorcing my first husband. Not even because a “family” is supposed to be together. And if I was single and my ex came back today saying he wanted another chance and someone told me I should give him one because we are a family – I would show them BOTH the door.
Sometime around 17 or 18 I decided that I didn’t want to wake up when I’m 40 and suddenly ask myself “what if?” So I spent my 20s living almost ridiculously recklessly. I loved, I made good decisions, bad decisions, STUPID decisions…I spent 4 years in an extremely complicated relationship that absolutely tore me apart. And now I’m 34, married with a son, and my life is completely boring. And I love it! My husband is completely different than any of the other guys I dated and I can honestly say I have no regrets! but if you had told me at 17 my life would be a typically normal, boring life I would’ve thought you were insane! Thank god your 1st love isn’t always your only love!
Can I just say that since Sunday’s episode – in addition to swooning like a child – I’ve noticed a lot more of each ‘ship taking time to see the others’ points of view? And I love it! I think A&E did a really nice job getting people to think outside their ‘shipper box’. Of course, I say this with only this forum’s threads as examples – tumblr is just WAY to scary for me so I just wait until you all post their good stuff! I like this forum because I think we’re all a lot more moderate and understanding than other sites and forums anyway, but I’m really loving how much people are really coming together. Am I still just riding high because of all of the epi’s amazing feels? MAYBE!