I've been thinking about this thread a lot, Mattie, and I want to make sure we say again that we completely respect your feelings, and your heartfelt belief that you and your boyfriend are meant to be forever. I know sometimes it feels like older people don't respect your beliefs.
OK I've rewritten this next part a few times
It's hard to phrase things well on the web sometimes.
Imagine you worked with 8 year olds and they always started the school year saying the were going to run a mile in a minute. They believed with all their heart that they were going to, and you encouraged their dreams, and at the end of the year none of them were able to. So then another year goes by with the same results. Your ability to fully believe that they can reach their dreams fades with each year. Yes you might believe that somewhere out there is an 8 year old who can do it - but life keeps showing you over and over that it's extraordinarily rare.
It's not that the 8 year olds are 'wrong'. They are completely right and fine for having that belief and hope and dream! It is just that the ways people change and grow over time tend to affect that goal.
So we would all be *thrilled* if you and your boyfriend were still together at age 18, got married, and lived together happily ever after. I guess in a way we want you to take things slow because we're worried, if you are not in that special .00001% for which it happens, that you will not be completely crushed. In a way we are trying to protect you from the teenage dreams we all had at that age, that life has a way of interfering with.
