When Opposites Attract...You Get Married!

Two years ago today, I married a truly wonderful, amazing man. I can honestly say that two years of marriage went by much faster than two years of long distance dating. When we were dating and talking about getting married, and when we were engaged and planning our wedding, we got a lot of mixed reactions. A lot of people felt this overwhelming need to inform me that we were too young to get married. Others felt it didn't make sense for us to get married while Travis was still in college. Then there were a few who supported us and trusted that we had, first and foremost, sought God in our decision. And now that we've been married for two years, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And over the last two years, I have learned a myriad of things about marriage, my husband, and myself. And I thought I'd share those with you.

1. When it comes to cleaning, it's all or nothing.
     My husband doesn't know how to clean one room. If I decide the kitchen is a mess and it needs to be cleaned up, my husband decides that we might as well clean the whole house while we're at it.

2. Puppies help prepare you for children.
    Puppies play loudly, spill food and water everywhere, run around the house, wake up in the middle of the night, follow you everywhere, have to be potty trained, tease each other, cost money, want to play with you all the time, take lots of naps, and the list goes on and on.

3. 80% of fights/arguments/disagreements/etc. are over silly, petty things.
    Just about a week ago, Travis and I got into a long, long, long fight (or whatever you'd like to call it) about me not putting the scissors back in their spot. Travis didn't see anything wrong with asking me to put the scissors back where they go, and I took great offense at the request. Does it make sense to get so upset at something like that? No. Does it happen more often than any legitimate argument? Yep! One of my favorite silly "fights" was just a couple weeks after we got married. We checked our phone bill and saw that we had a $5 late fee because we hadn't paid our bill in time. I insisted that Travis told me he paid the bill. He claimed he never said that. I insisted that I had asked him and he said he paid it. This went back and forth for a couple minutes before my dear cousin said, "Oh my gosh, I'll give you guys the $5!" We all had a good laugh.

4. Long distance dating makes marriage seem a bit easier. :)
    This one may not be true for everyone, but for us, after enduring nearly three years of long-distance dating, the whole "living in the same house, being married" thing didn't seem quite so challenging. We fought a lot more when we lived 600 to 10,000 miles apart than we have since being married. Yes, we have those silly petty disagreements, but those are (thankfully!) few and far between. Perhaps it's just that you know what it's like to be apart, so now that you're together, things seem so much better.

5. It's a good thing I married a laid-back man.
   When I get unnecessarily upset about something, it's a very good thing that my husband has the patience to stay calm. He doesn't join in the insanity, he just waits for me to calm down and realize how ridiculous I sound.

6. When your husband likes to cuddle, you get to cuddle at random times all throughout the day.
    I blame my mother-in-law. She told me that she prayed for a cuddle-er. Apparently God answer her prayer abundantly. And then some. Travis has tried to share his cuddly-ness with our puppies, but they don't seem to handle being smothered in hugs as well as I do. So I still get most of it. But it's how he says "I love you," so why would I want it to go away?

7. Money stresses me out.
   My husband is a bit more of a spender than I am. When it comes to excess spending (things that aren't necessary), I can easily and willingly spend money on eating out. Cooking makes a mess. And takes a long time. Eating out is so easy. But that's pretty much it. My husband, on the other hand, loves to buy expensive things. So far it's been a rather pricey bicycle and some pricey (albeit useful) power tools. However, I still completely trust Travis with everything related to money. I don't want to know anything about our money situation. Why? Because it stresses me out! For no apparent reason. Even in college (when I had to manage my own money), I hated looking at my bank account. I was so silly. If I ever had less than $700 in my account, I went into an almost panic mode. I had friends who would say that they had $20 in their bank account.. and they seemed oddly relaxed about that. My room and board were covered by the school (as was my tuition). The only expenses I had were phone bill, car insurance, and fuel. Not a whole lot to worry about. Needless to say, I don't do money.

8. Tithing is so very important.
   Our first year of marriage was tight financially. We knew it would be. Travis was still going to Baylor and only able to work about 10 hours per week. I was working as an aide at an elementary school, putting my hard-earned degree to absolutely no use. ;) And anytime I added up our monthly bills (just bills!) and calculated how much money we were bringing in each month, we always had more bills than money. And yet somehow, we never ever paid our bills late or ran out of money. Ever. We were even able to eat out sometimes! The only way I can explain it is to look to what the Bible says about tithing. God asks that we give ten percent of our income to Him. And when we do, He'll bless us for it. And He did. We didn't have a whole lot of extra money, but we always had enough.

9. My husband has a strange sentimental attachment to his car.
   Travis bought a '94 Honda Accord when he started college. He paid about $2000 for it. For the first three years he had it, it was a pretty decent car. I mean, as long as you overlooked the fact that the power windows didn't work, it flooded anytime it rained, and in the winter, the windows frosted on the inside of the car. (A nice thick layer of ice, I might add.) And then, one day when I started the drive back home after work, I realized that the air blowing on my face was extremely hot. I mean, fire hot. As I was shifting gears and trying to pay attention to the road, I was also trying to figure out why the air wasn't cooling. After a few minutes, I turned the air off all together because the hot air was melting my skin. (You think I'm being dramatic, but this is Texas. It was hot.) I tried to roll down the windows, but oh that's right! They don't work. That particular drive home seemed like it took two hours. (It was only about 15 minutes.) I'm not sure I've ever stepped into 102 degree Texas heat and thought, "Ah... so much better!" until that day. I called my dear husband to tell him that the AC wasn't working. It was broken. He didn't believe me. When he got home, he went out to look at the car. When he came back I said, "Well?" He says, "The AC's broken." You don't say? :) It was going to cost $1500 to fix the car. We ended up getting another car later that summer. But did we get rid of the car that bakes you alive? Of course not. Travis ordered the parts to fix the windows, and still drives that car to work everyday. In the heat. Sigh.

10. I love being married.
   It's true. I love it. It's been an absolutely wonderful two years.