I'm calling my own version of Godwin's law the second someone mentions "isn't life the same way". I'm thinking smaller scale here. I appreciate the metaphor though!
I'm in college. Graduating in 2.5 years thanks to the accelerated program. Virginia, however, isn't known for it's Game Creating population- and that's the degree I'm going for. So odds are I'm moving to Maryland, Washington, Pittsburgh... not near here. I suppose Maryland isn't far, but I digress. My girlfriend is 15 and, say, four fifths. So by the time I graduate, she'll be going onto college. However, I doubt that a newly 18'd woman will willingly go and move away from home in an instant. Especially since she has a wonderful relationship with her family, they'd kill to keep her there.
This means that in two and a half years - assuming that we last that long, but I like to be optimistic - there are over whelming odds at play here. There is an outstanding chance that we'll have to break up at that time. And since it would have been a three year relationship, odds are we wouldn't be at a casual level; it would probably hurt quite a lot to break up in that situation. Indeed, there is that small chance that she'll willingly be pried from her family to pursue a boyfriend's whim, and risk pretty much everything in her life over a fling, but I doubt it. That's a severe way of putting it, but that's how I'm looking at it.
That being said, I do love her. We have a lot of fun together, she's pretty cool and all, and I enjoy her company. Her friends and I get along, she likes most of the things I like (don't mention Dwarf Fortress to her though, as she'll get lost and irritated quickly), and it's fun. But looking towards what future we have is... well, there's not much. I've been told to expect this, since teenage love pretty much never works out. I've never been in a three year relationship, and breaking up with someone after only nine months put me into a depressed state last time, so setting this up for failure really is going to hurt.
What's your take on it? Enjoy it while it lasts, knowing it won't? Or try and hermit my way out of it until I do move, and try to grasp at something more lasting? My take on it, despite all the pessimism I've put into this post, is that I do want to have fun for a few years, so I'm not going to break up with her regardless of what anyone else says here... but I do want to get it out of my system, and assure myself that I'm not being too emo-y about it.
That, and I can't have sex with her. Yay Virginia laws. xD