"I ALWAY DREAM...

           By Susan Browing Pogany
            
           "I always dreamed that I'd meet the perfect guy and that we'd be so much in love and have this wonderful romance," explains seventeen-year-old Sandra. "But I guess I was too anxious to be in love. If a boyfriend would tell me that having sex would deepen our relationship, I went along with it. But I would just end up getting hurt because after we had sex, we would end up having lots of proplems and breaking up. This kept on happening to me."

            Part of what holds a relationship together is sexual tension. It's true that going ahead and having sex can dissolve your frustration. Yet, at the same time you'll lose the sexual tension that was attracting the two of you to begin with. It's possible that adding sex could hasten a breakup.

           Sex education Carol Cassell explains, " Over and over I hear....."I would have liked the relationship to continue for a while, but once I said yes to sex, it was goodbye......"

           You may think, "So you break up. So what? ". But breaking up can be painful. It usually means that one partner rejects the other. When we are rejected, we realize that some one we love or think is terrific wishes we weren't around anymore. That person no longer want us or values us. If sex was involved, these feelings of rejection can be extremely intense and painful. They may make us doubt our value. The  wound can be deep, and the scar permanent.

            As a young person, you need experiences that build you up, not tear you down.

           Many teens expect or hope to marry their sex partner. Nationwide, only one out of