I'm 20 years old, and I'm engaged. Some people admire me for wanting to settle down at such an early age, but others think differently. "Aren't you a little young?" they say, "Don't you want more time to experience life before you settle down?"

Well, here's my answer for these people. When you find your other half, you don't care how old you happen to be, you just want to spend as much time with them as possible. You're not losing life experiences, you're still having them, just with that person by your side. Another remark I get often is "Well, you've only been seeing him for less than a year, how do you know you're ready to spend the rest of your life with him?" This one amuses me.

Though I've only known my fiance for a short amount of time, it feels like so much longer. I don't need to know a person for ten years to know that I want them in my life forever. Nowadays, society believes that you need to date a person for 5 or more years before it's acceptable to get married, but it's not always like that. When you know, you know and I know.

Others say "Do you think you're mature enough to get married?" This one is tough. Yes, I'm 20, but I've always been a pretty independent person, and so has my fiance. Both of us have come to the point where we put each other before ourselves, which is what marriage is about.

So when you stop and think that getting married at a young age is "The end of the party," remember that everyone is different and that each different relationship grows in a different way. If you and your significant other believe you're ready to be married, go for it and remember that you should always do right by yourself and do right by your partner.