Tenth Anniversary

I am madly and deeply in love with my husband. Sometimes it sickens me of how much I love my him. I never thought it was possible for a person to continuously give me butterflies, but it is. I never thought that a person could make all my dreams come true, but he does. I never thought I could be even more in love with him today than yesterday, but I am.

Today we are celebrating ten years of marriage. Ten years ago my life changed forever. I longed for that day. The day that I would stand before God and my family and marry my best friend. The day where I would wear a gorgeous white dress and dance the night away. The day where my tears would be from pure joy and happiness. It was the greatest day of my life. The day that changed my path. The day that would lead eventually to my two beautiful children.

Through all the ups and the downs, the tears of joy and the tears of sadness, we have come a long way. We have watched each other grow and mature. We have learned so much about each other and what we want for our life. So here is a few things that I have learned about marriage.

1. Communication is key. I know everyone hears this. But it truly is so important to a marriage. When first married I did not realize the seriousness of this factor. I thought, “Communicate?? That should be easy. I will see him every day so I will talk to him.” Goodness I was wrong. It is so much more than just asking him about his day. It is so much more than just talking. It is being able to listen to him and to take in what he is saying with no judgement. It is understanding his feelings about the topic and making sure that my reply will not offend those feelings. It is so easy in a marriage to get too comfortable or too busy to pay attention to communication. But communication needs to be continuously worked on. It needs to be nurtured. It is the one thing that can not be ignored or walked away from.
2. Commitment. Marriage is not a joke!!! Unfortunately I often think some individuals do not take it so seriously. It is not easy being married. It is the hardest thing that I have ever had to do and it will continue to be hard.  But I am committed to making this marriage work. I will fight every single day of my existence to make sure that this marriage continues to be strong. He is worth the fight. It takes an understanding of what commitment is in order to make it through the rough patches.
3. Laugh and let go. At the beginning of our marriage I could hold a grudge like no other. I would never let go. I would stew in my own misery before I would give my husband any satisfaction of winning. I am not sure when my turning point was but it happened. Some conscience effort on my part and I was able to learn how to let go. I was able to move past arguing about the silly things and laugh a little. This I think has made me a better wife. To not let the little things get in the way and to laugh about them.
4. Expectations. From the beginning of our relationship we talked about our expectations. From children to roles within the marriage. From short term goals to long term goals. Every thing is talked about and our expectations are laid out. This helps in getting a better understanding on each others thoughts and feelings about each topic. I often times can be stubborn and have extremely strong opinions so it is important for me to talk to my husband about what I am expecting in a certain situation. It is also important for me to listen to his expectations and together form a cohesive conclusion about that certain topic .
5. True love. In these last ten years I have experienced true love. Before him I thought I was in love. I thought I experienced it. However I could have not been further from it. True love is something that is hard to explain. It was like something that clicked inside my brain, letting every part of me know that he was the one. He creates this bubble of peace around me. Even when things are going horribly wrong, his love protects me and comforts my pain. It is the most beautiful experience. He is my one true love.

These are just a few things that I have learned in these ten years of blissful marriage. There is so much more adventure left. There is so much more to this story that we are writing. I look forward to the next ten years!