Reflections on 5 Years of Marriage

I always struggle to know, like many probably do, how much to share of the beauties of my life. I want to be loving, respectful and understanding of people who are in different situations in life and not come across the wrong way. We are all on our individual journey or sorrows and joys. I feel that way about all the good things I have been able to experience in life. I've realized that feeling guilty or bad doesn’t profit others, though. Each woman’s journey is special and unique to them and has its own jewels. I know for myself before I was married I was very curious to hear more about the mysterious life of married women, what it was like. It seemed like a big secret, to me! When I was going through a difficult season in marriage, I wanted to hear more from women who had gone through a difficult season and came out happy and stronger and married as ever, I wanted to know how they did and that it was possible. For me, in the times I haven’t had the things I longed for, I wanted to look towards someone who did have it so that I would be able to believe it was possible. It was extremely hopeful to see it existed because if it existed for them, I knew it could for me. So, after I’ve thought it through, I think it is alright to share my own journey, and perhaps it will have some sort of purpose. If you are in one of those places I used to be, wondering, please! Reach out to me. I would love to just talk and share and be the woman I wished I could talk to in that stage. There are more lessons I've learned I wish others knew if ever i feel that time is right. Maybe when I'm much older and wiser. For now, some of the things I am most grateful for! Much love <3

We just had our 5 year anniversary! In light of this, I’ve been reflecting on some of my favorite things about being married.

I think one of the best things I am most grateful for is having a companion in the journey of life. It’s wonderful indeed to have someone who is “your person”. One of my favorite things is just laughing together, observing the world, having our running inside jokes, and frolicking through life together. I realized awhile back that it is tremendously important to have fun together! You don’t always have to be hellbent on being productive and successful and improving your life….it’s good to let loose and just goof off and be silly and do totally frivolous things! I love all the late nights that we lay in bed late talking and laughing about the most random, weirdest things, whether it's philosophy or physics or watching babies eat lemons on youtube.

It’s good to have a BFF for life! It’s really special to be able to build a life with another person. It’s fun to dream, work hard, and slowly but surely, you are living in the reality you dreamed up together. It’s good to be a team! To have someone who shares the same vision as you.

It’s good to have a man in your life. Someone who is bigger and stronger than you, who will defend and protect you, someone who will lug your bags around Europe for you, catch the spiders, fix the house, and the cars. It’s good to have the curious masculine perspective brought to your life. It’s fun to have someone around who is a bit of a wild-man and gets excited about wild-man things. Sometimes, I just sit there and watch him and think, what a strange creature! Sometimes, with my friends, we sit there and watch our men engaging in their masculine activities together, and we laugh at them because it’s so odd and yet I think the reason we laugh is that we enjoy the strangeness of manliness!

It’s good to have someone who sees the absolute, very worst of you as a human being, yet fully loves and accepts you anyway. Someone who is gentle when you’re down, or who can push you to do better when you need it. It’s good to have someone who brings out your worst flaws because it helps you to grow and be sharp and well rounded. It’s good to have someone who understands you better than anyone, and even helps you understand yourself better! It’s good to have someone that you're the you-est with.

I think one of the best things of all is to have someone who, no matter what the day held, will hold you at the end of it, every night.

Of course, like everyone, we drive each other crazy, make each other madder than anyone else can, have our buttons of eachother’s we unintentionally push just because of who we are as people, we hurt each other, and we have our just plain average days. I think that, in the end, I’ve realized, there’s no one else I’d rather be fighting mad at or hurt by. It’s us. We’re meant to be together through it all.

I’m very thankful for spending the past 5 years with him, with all its ups and downs. Here’s to the rest of our lives!