I know this is going to sound weird coming from me, the girl who wrote an article not even a year ago explaining why I was OK with not being engaged, but as of July 16, 2016, I am engaged. It is a bit of a weird feeling, being engaged to the boy I started dating at 14. But I knew I was going to spend my life with him, and now it’s official. Currently we do not have the funds to get married, so we are setting the wedding for four years from now, in order to save enough money and also so that we can have it on our 10 year anniversary.

Every girl dreams of her wedding, dreams of marrying the man of her dreams. So of course I was never against marriage. My then boyfriend and I talked about it all the time, discussing when would be the appropriate time, what type of ring I would want, all of it. I think I wrote that article to express frustration with the women who I thought were getting engaged and married too soon. People I swear had just started dating were preparing to spend the rest of their lives together, while the man I spent most of my life with and I were not even putting it on the table. We were trying to be sensible, saying we needed to wait until after college.

But then he went to London for a week, and came back leading me into Jared's one day. Looking was just fine by me, we already knew my ring size. It was exciting, just being in the jewelry store. I was sort of freaking out, I will admit that. We left the store with me feeling pretty confident about the style I wanted, and even maybe the ring I wanted. Then, a couple hours later, he told me we were going back, which I initially thought was kind of weird. But then he told me, “Ok, pick out your ring.” And I did. A month later, on our romantic anniversary trip, he proposed.

And now I get it. I get the excitement of being engaged, of wanting to plan everything, and tell everybody. I want to broadcast the fact that I have a ring to the world. The wedding isn’t for four more years, but I’ve already started calling vendors to ask questions, and I keep telling my mom we need to get the guest list started. Wedding planning has become almost all I think about, which is insane with how much I already have on my plate. I have become that crazy bride-to-be, although I don’t think I’ve reached Bridezilla level yet. I now understand though. You pick someone you plan to spend the rest of your life with, and that’s really exciting.

I’m glad we’re waiting, because it will give us time to plan and get ready financially for our future. People say that long engagements often don’t work, which is often the case with young people who get engaged too fast. But I’ve been with this man for six years, I think I manage another four, and then the rest of my life. It is this confidence that helped me say yes to his proposal. I am ready to spend my life with him, and this ring is just the beginning.