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I think you're saying that they don't restart the relationship because they want to preserve it as this idealized memory of what "pure love" feels like. And while I can't directly relate, as I said, I can make some comparisons to things like watching childhood shows, even if that comparison seems silly at the surface. As for your example, though, that's kind of what happened to my elementary school. But I honestly don't care that much. I enjoy childhood memories sometimes but I don't treasure them, and in fact there's very little I miss about it. I mean, sure, I am unable to derive a lot of a joy from such simple measures of enjoyment as I did before, but for the most part, I actually am still able to enjoy the things I enjoyed most from childhood, at will. The parts I enjoyed most were sitting alone drawing things and making stuff with Legos and hell, I can still do that. In fact, I still hang out with friends from middle school despite us not attending the same school afterwards. Point is, this is where I'm coming from when I say that I can't resonate with the movie's whole spirit of leaving behind that precious thing in the past.
The example I'd use is how I used to be incredibly entertained by some shows I watched as a kid, but nowadays I can't get the same enjoyment out of them because I see how flawed they are. Like Power Rangers, for example. I used to get so hyped for it but I can't stand watching an entire episode now because it's so excessively cheesy. For a lot of other shows, part of me is scared to go back and watch them for fear that they won't be as awesome as I remembered. The thing is, most of them are still pretty good shows if I watch them now. So I think that if things from the childhood were really actually that good, they'd still be good, and if they were not so great, then I don't lose any sleep over it because as an adult I get to enjoy even better stuff and/or other things from childhood are still good.
With regards to this childhood romance thing, specifically, maybe it was real, maybe it wasn't. If it was real, then like I said, they should get back together because hey, the thing from your childhood might be just as awesome now. But if it is only awesome as a memory, where everything is preserved as pure and perfect, or just awesome because the "love" of children is purer and more passionate than the "love" of adults, then it's just believing in a lie. Even as an ideal, it's not worth believing in. The "love" of children is most likely just puppy love; it feels intense and passionate but it's superficial and burns out quickly. If this love can only exist between children, in the simplified worlds of children, then is it real love if it can't withstand the vicissitudes of life? Winter storms are one thing, but as you said, financial difficulties and social pressures are another thing. Winter storms are a simple problem that doesn't interfere the actual relationship dynamics. They don't really test the love.
Concerning the usage of romance to ease the burdens of life, I don't think that type of childhood love wouldn't remedied the demands of adult life either. Like if you took the two characters as middle schoolers and subjected them to financial demands and social pressures wherein they had to provide for themselves, the same kind of complicated, messy relationship that adults face would also develop.
Not that I look at romance as a means for comfort amidst stresses either. In fact you might argue it's easier to face things when those things are not also placing a burden on your relationship with someone else.
Concerning how adult relationships don't have that feverish passion past the honeymoon phase, as I said, I believe such feverish passion is superficial; it's a brief fire that explodes onto the scene but flames out just as quickly. It's glamorous and makes for great romantic scenes in movies but I don't think it's something that should be lamented when lost. If relationships get stale and bitter after the honeymoon phase then it was all superficial to begin with. But yes, as you said, it gets a lot more complicated as an adult and the demands are higher. Here's the thing though, spending time together and enjoying each other's company is great, but the other factors you mentioned are also part and parcel to love. Broadly speaking, if one person doesn't contribute financially or do the housework for no good reason but is great to hang out with, then doesn't that speak to the character of the person you're in love with? Doesn't that say that that person has a great personality for socializing but is selfish enough on the inside that and/or don't care enough about you that they would leave you to do all the work?
Anyway, even if people did try their best out of love, there are things outside of pure love that are required for maintaining the relationship, like individual emotional intelligence, communicative abilities, and making sound financial decisions. I'm sure if you took a survey, a lot of divorced couples did love each other and still do to a degree, but that wasn't the factor that was going wrong. In other words; love is not enough. And that's not some destroyer of the romantic ideal but rather the ideal people should have in their minds concerning "true love" should have these built-in notions. Adult relationships require more work to sustain and if done right, absolutely the reward is far superior. By definition, it's just richer because of all the nuanced things you had to be good at in order to build the relationship. Think about it this way; this kind of love gets tested in a million different ways and it still stands; isn't that more beautiful than something that can only exist within a perfect, simplified world where a winter storm is the biggest obstacle? It's like the difference between drawing a simple geometric shape perfectly and painting a scenic landscape perfectly. The former is perfect and pure in the sense that there's a very satisfying symmetry to the well defined lines and shape. The latter is a lot messier, less symmetrical, less prim and proper, and a lot harder to perfect, but the reward is much greater.
Anyway, don't want to give a sermon here. It's just that I believe that this perspective is not something that's often told and it might give a lot of people something to think about.
That being said, obviously I'm no sap for this kind of thing, but I didn't see any reason the two lovers couldn't get back together even after separation for so many years. I think the girl had an engagement ring and the guy was kind of in a relationship? Don't think it was clear. But those other engagements aside, I think even if they had grown apart, they can at the very least begin anew as if they were strangers if they really still valued what was special about the other person that they saw in childhood.
On the other hand, the cynical side of me says that childhood romances shouldn't be taken seriously because of the limited worldview of the participants. During the teenage years and before, people most likely a) don't know enough about what to value in a person b) don't know enough to make an accurate evaluation of another person according to those values. So, there's really no need for so much emotional energy devoted to a past childhood romance. There's this idea that the childhood romance in the film was something pure and perfect, and it's a shame that it was lost but it's something that one must move on from. Realistically, I don't think such a romance would've been pure and perfect and that there's only a greater potential for such a pure and perfect romance in adulthood, such that the past doesn't need to be treated nostalgically. When you think of it this way, that what is gone is not something to be lamented, then there's nothing to be moved on FROM, and in fact what you desire can still be achieved in much greater capacity, meaning there's every reason to only look forward. The romance of childhood can never compare to the potential highs of the romances of adulthood, but the caveat is that such a relationship is harder to come by and must be worked for.