It works for us!

Lately I have been thinking a lot about marriage.. Crazy since I have been married for over 2 years. I have been reflecting on not only my marriage but just marriage in general.

First off, I LOVE to be married.. I love being a wife, I love coming home to my husband every night, I love making him dinner, and being the typical, american dream "house wife." I love saying my husband, I love my phone case that says wifey. I love looking at my ring every day as a symbol of our wonderful marriage. One thing I have often thought about is they don't prepare you for marriage. There are no classes you take in high school on how to be the "perfect" wife. We even took a premarital counseling class right before we got married, although it was a great class and we learned a lot, it was nothing like real life married life.

Marriage is hard, don't get me wrong I love being married and wouldn't change my life for the world, but marriage isn't easy. I feel like so many people expect every married couple to live a fairy tale life just like the movies. Although I am living my fairy tale, and have my prince charming, there are still struggles in every healthy marriage. 2 totally different people, from totally different families, raised totally different are forced to live together as one.

My whole life I grew up knowing you don't live with a boy until your married. It wasn't anything new, it was just how I was raised. Not only did I have to get use to living with a boy, this boy would be living with me for the rest of my life. It was no longer my money, my bank account, I'm going to go do this and that. It turned into our money, our bills, our dogs, etc. We became one. I had to get use to all of his flaws as well as be okay with showing my flaws, having him see me with no make up for the first time, thinking will he think I'm just as pretty, will I do anything embarrassing where he won't love me anymore, although this is a daily (even 2 years later) challenge it is all about the fun and the adventure of marriage.

Secondly, the struggle with society. You wouldn't believe how many times I have heard

Person: You are married? How old are you?
Me: yea for over 2 years, I'm 23
Person: Wow, You are so young

I got engaged at the age of 19, after 10 months of dating. I heard it all "is she pregnant?" "They are way too young." "They don't have good jobs." "They haven't finished school." Regardless of how much disapproval we got, we still stayed strong and got married 16 months later. I still get comments about being married so young, almost as though I am an alien from outer space. One time I mention to a newer friend that I felt like an alien, since I'm married and a lot of other couples my age aren't. She replied with, "I'm not going to lie but when I found out you were married I thought what could we possibly have in common, then got to know you and we have a lot in common." It's interesting hearing that. Although I am married, I am still a human, I still enjoy girls day, shopping, and everything else single woman enjoy.

Sacrifice, there are a lot of sacrifices need to be made in order for a marriage to be successful. This means sacrifice on both ends. Early in our marriage (4 months to be exact) we made a very big decision to take a job in another state and move to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. That meant a whole new struggle challenge. We bought our first house. I started a new job, and had to meet new people, in a new small town. It has definitely had it's ups and downs, but I knew this was the best decision for us, for our family, and for our future family.

I have been asked numerous amount of times do you have kids? No, just because I found my true love so early on doesn't me we have to have kids right away. Do I have baby fever? Why yes I do. But I have to remind myself that I am only 23 years old, and I have my whole life to be a mom. When God wants me to have children I will. I am not ready for sleepless nights, and lets be honest I am too selfish right now to take care of and buy things for a baby. To answer everyone's question When are you having kids? In a few years, when we are ready! :)

We also heard many times, "they won't last." We decided early on that divorce will not be an option, We won't even use that word. We will work past everything that comes to us, it won't be easy but it will be doable. Its me and you til the end!

Like I have said before I love being married, and I'm so blessed to have found my partner for life at such a young age. I know it isn't for everyone, but it works for us. We aren't perfect, we don't have the perfect marriage. One piece of advice I would give to any young newly wed couple is, don't let others tell you that you are too young to get married. With a little work, and a lot of fun you will have a very successful and long marriage.

As I sit on the couch while my husband is watching TV I just think of how truly blessed I am to be married to such a wonderful man, and how much I love my life!