While I myself have never been in a relationship before, I have seen many other couples interact, and I do believe that love can exist in high school relationships if the love is for the right reasons. Love cannot be described, defined, or explained, so who is to say that we can put an age limit on it? However, a lot of maturity goes on through high school, which could change the feelings of high school students towards their significant other.

In a public, co-ed high school, I have seen many relationships take place. Some are clearly only taking place because of wanting to test the waters of dating. While this is perfectly fine as long as both couples are aware that it will eventually end, it is no where near true love. Other couples only go out with each other because of appearance, sex, or peer pressure, but these relationships are looking for ugly ends. Then there are the relationships that I look at and think to myself, “It could happen.” These relationships involve compassion, patience, equality, and most importantly, respect; ironically, I see all of these qualities in my parents, who have been married for twenty-eight years.

The classic American dream is for a person to marry their high school sweet heart, have kids, and live happily ever after. If so many loving relationships are present during the high school years, why doesn’t this dream come true more often? The answer here is the change of feelings and priorities. As high school students, we undergo a lot of changes: we have to work harder as the years go on, college and career finding takes over our minds, and we begin to lose friends that we once were close to in middle school. This becomes the downfall in many high school relationships. Some relationships survive this change, others do not. Neither is good or bad; whatever makes each end of the relationship have a better life.

My opinion is that you can indeed love more than once because of the sole reason of change. Some people look back on high school relationships and think, “Boy, am I sorry I did that.” I know other couples that have lasted for years later; in fact, my best friend’s parents were married when her mother had just graduated high school, and the two remain married to this day with two safe and healthy daughters. Love can change with time, but with patience and understanding, it will last.