I've decided I'm for it.
My husband the scientist and I did not get married young - we were 25. (We didn't meet until we were 23 and in grad school.) He's constantly telling our younger brothers to focus on school and careers and not worry about girls yet. But I think we're really sending them the wrong message. It's so self-centered!
Also, how can we honestly expect people to remain virgins until they're married if they don't get married until they're like 30? When your body is physically ready 15 years before that? That's hard - harder than it should be!
It's not unrealistic to think young marriages will work. Just look at your grandparents. I know both my mom and dad's parents met in high school and married shortly after. They've recently celebrated 55 and 60 years of marriage. That can still happen.
Instead we have people like my middle brother. He'll also be with his high school sweetheart forever, but not with the same direct route. For the past eight years, he's been with the girl he's dated since high school. They got engaged about five years ago. But of course they didn't get married so young. Instead, they moved in together a year later. They're finally getting married next month. They could be celebrating their fourth anniversary of marriage by now!
(It was all I could do to keep that last paragraph from disintegrating into a big rant.)
Anyway, the point of this post was to tell you to go check out The Unorthodox Marriage's post on young marriage. She links to a few articles, and that's what her blog is all about. Even if this doesn't apply to you (already happily married or already past the "young" part), I think it's important to think critically about this and be open to the idea. Sometimes it's a good thing to be "counter-cultural."