Over the next 4 years, we tried to maintain a romantic relationship with one another but it was difficult because of our age. We were fairly young and still needed to identify with our own individual self and also understand and identify ourselves as a couple. The dialectics autonomy-connection was a major obstacle for our relationship. “Autonomy-connection is the contradiction between the “me” and “we” of a relationship. Couples struggle with the need to spend time together and the need to be alone” (Burnett & DeGreeff, p. 8). Unfortunately, we both wanted to be single and experience all life had to offer without being tied to a relationship. This separation prepared us for a big change. Right after high school in 2005, Rell found himself
