So, how's married life?

This is a question that I have been asked countless times since our wedding on June 11th (now 11 weeks!). As much as I truly appreciate being asked about my new life with Tim, I often wonder if this is one of those questions where people expect to hear the generic answer (i.e., "great," "wonderful," "couldn't be better") and then continue on their way. While married life has been all of these and much more, if you want to know the REAL truth, life as a newlywed can also be challenging! There is hard work to make your marriage successful!!

Although Tim and I talked about our expectations and tried to anticipate everything ahead of time, there are some things you just don't anticipate until you are there. In fact, I think most of us would agree that it is hard to communicate all of our expectations in advance, because frankly we may not know about them until we realize they are not being met. Tim and I have run into challenges in some areas over the past few months including housework, money, and communication. I have decided that these issues will always be "works in progress" and we will have to continue to be flexible with one another.

A few of my single friends have asked me if our relationship changed after the wedding. I would have to say that it has changed, but in ways that make it better. We are closer than ever before and now know all of each other's idiosyncracies that we didn't know until living together. Learning these things about one another has been wonderful and I hope the learning never ends! If I had to sum it up, I would say that we now have that comfortableness that you can only have with your own family. We might get on each other's nerves occasionally from being around each other much more than before, but we know that without a doubt that the other is always there and is the first to forgive with open arms. What an amazing plan that God has!!! I am truly blessed to have Tim as my partner for life!