Teenage Love?

Can someone tell me what has happened with the real meaning of Teenage Love?  What is this sort of love supposed to be like?  Is it still considered love if we keep telling 20 people we date that we love them?  Could it be the pressure of saying it at this age because we don’t exactly know what it is to be in love, but we want to try and feel it?  Is a relationship at age 16 or 17 to be treated seriously since we are on the brink of adulthood and that adult relationships should last?  I for one am not sure if I’m ready to grow up, especially in relationships. 
 I do feel pressured to keep a relationship because a big majority of my friends are in these relationships and have been in relationships for over two years.  I feel like when I’m with a guy I really like I am pressured in saying those four words “I love you...too”.  I can never say the I love you first because I believe it means a lot, and it’s almost like a commitment once I’ve said it.  I go by this quote by William Arthur Ward  “Love is more than a noun -- it is a verb; it is more than a feeling -- it is caring, sharing, helping, sacrificing”

 I don’t believe that I have been in love like the love where I have seen myself marrying the guy, but I have been in love in the way that they are my best friend, someone I can talk to till I fall asleep, watch hockey with, sing in the car at the top of our lungs to Keith Urban, and joke around with ending in laughter till we cry.  The love I have experienced so far is fun, and maybe this is what love is to me during this time in my life but I’m definitely not ready for the long love that seems to be the trend I am seeing.  I don’t want to fight with a person I care about and deal with those complications that seem too mature for me to handle.  I just want to be with someone that I can think of the “us” at now.  I don’t want to plan further up the road cause that can be a huge unsteady step for me to deal with.  I am not saying that Teenage love is a bad thing or that it’s crazy.  It’s just that I don’t know how it works and why it’s never worked out for me the way I’ve seen it work out for people around me.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t met that one perfect guy yet.  I know that if I was ready for true love, I would know.  I’m still growing inside, living at this moment in time and still learning to accept who I really am.  But in the mean time I will live in the moment and let fate do its work, and learn from my experiences. 

  “The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.”  - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross


-Tasha xxoxx