Trust me. The math actually works out. Peter and I have been married for 20 years. Some lessons were easier than others. Some are still in process. Some require a lifetime. I’m grateful beyond words, but this is a blog so words are required.
Here are some lessons about myself and about life through marriage learned in no particular order.
- I can be a selfish, whiny brat. Ask Peter.
- Planning a wedding is easier than loving and honoring your spouse in sickness and till death. (And I had one heck of a wedding.)
- Seek out marriage counseling early and often.
- Make new friends as a couple.
- Make new friends as individuals.
- Fall bowling leagues actually last through spring.
- I am far too practical to enjoy romance but apparently not so practical that I can’t enjoy sparkly things.
- Subwoofer/laser disc/DVD/Blu Ray is a love language for some people.
- I thought I married a mind reader. He did, too.
- Love is a verb. It is a choice. Everyday.
- I do not like “traditional” gender roles when it comes to cooking, cleaning and child rearing.
- I like “traditional” gender roles when it comes to shoveling, mowing or cutting down large trees.
- I do not like my husband associating with men who refer to parenting their own children as “babysitting”.
- I do not like associating with women who call what the fathers of their children do as “babysitting” .
- Sometimes you have to go to bed angry with each other because it’s better to go to bed with the understanding you will talk later than to argue when tired.
- Men aren’t the only ones who enjoy sex, think about sex or initiate sex.
- You really are marrying into a family, not marrying the individual.
- Children should not be the center of your marriage.
- The Church needs to talk more about healthy friendships and marriages because the world around me is still shouting louder and more effectively.
- It never hurts to say, “Thank you” and “I love you” for no other reason than you mean it.
Happy 20th anniversary to me and Peter. I am so glad I laughed through “Wayne’s World.” I am sorry it took me so long to stay awake (and then thoroughly enjoy “The Holy Grail”). I don’t think I will ever stay awake through “The Purple Rose of Cairo.”