The summer before her senior year Valentina Grajales Martinez and her boyfriend of more than two years started talking about the possibility of getting married once she graduated. Soon after the school year started, they decided to get married over winter break instead.

“It’s not because I’m pregnant or anything,” Grajales Martinez said.

While many see their decision as rash, Grajales Martinez and Daniel Farias say it felt right.

“You just know,” Grajales Martinez said. “Obviously it’s not a perfect relationship, but we always find a way to fix things. He’s exactly how I imagined a man I would want to marry. He’s a good son. He’s a good brother. He’s a good husband. I knew all of that before I knew that he was the one that I wanted to marry.”

Their decision to get married was met with support by their parents. Grajales Martinez has moved out of her house and into Farias’ parents’ home now.

“My mom has always liked him, so she was very supportive of it,” Grajales Martinez said.

Originally, the two planned on living together in their own home. However, they realized it was financially better to move in with Farias’ parents and save money. Their goal is to save $10,000 by the end of the year for emergencies and save money for their schooling.

Both of them plan on continuing their education. Grajales Martinez said she does not plan on having children until she at least has her master’s degree from Texas Women’s University (TWU) in about six years.

“I want to be a vet surgeon,” Grajales Martinez said. “I want to go to Richland first to take my basics, and then transfer to TWU. Hopefully then I can go to Texas A&M for vet school.”

Even though the couple talked about marriage for a while, Farias still proposed to Grajales Martinez.

“He took me on a flight [overlooking] Dallas,” Grajales Martinez said. “It was a dinner. That was when he told me he wanted to get married. When we landed he got down on one knee. I started crying. I didn’t know what to say, I was just in shock.”

He also asked Grajales Martinez’s mother for her hand in marriage.

“My mom started crying,” Grajales Martinez said. “She started giving us advice. She just said that she’ll always be there for us.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 50 percent of marriages between ages 15 and 22 are still together at age 46. Despite this, Grajales Martinez believes they will make their relationship last.

“He was my first boyfriend,” Grajales Martinez said. “I think we’re gonna make it. We just get along really well. We talk a lot. We have very good communication. If we’re mad at each other we cool off and then later we apologize and talk about what happened.”