6.
“I got married young (22) and after dating for less than two years. He was older, though (26), so I thought that made it okay. Nope. All we focused on was our wedding. We never talked about the rest of our lives and what our family would look like, whether we would travel, how many kids we would have, etc. There was nothing overtly wrong; it was just boring and not what I wanted. I moved out after 11 months and realized I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life. We wanted different things for our future, and I was willing to admit that ‘just okay’ wasn’t going to cut it for me.”
“I spent the next few years really figuring out who I was and what I wanted my life to look like. I met my match, and after dating for four years, I got married again. This time, we knew exactly what the rest of our lives would look like before we ever talked about a wedding. We just celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary and have the most incredible 5-year-old. I haven’t seen my ex since he moved out of our shared apartment 16 years ago, but he also remarried eventually and looks happy in the few pictures I’ve seen. It all worked out, or at least it did for me.”
—Anonymous, 39, Michigan
