Things I've Learned From Being Married for Four Months

Yay! Happy four month anniversary to my husband and I!! It's been 1/3 of a year, so that's cool. Even though it's not a huge amount of time, there is still a lot to have learned since we first got married. I wrote a post before at the three week mark, you can find that HERE.

1. Men Don't Change

I grew up listening to this song:

(which is why "Chocolate is a band-aid" is one of my favorite quotes) So it was ingrained in my brain that "men don't change". But after dating Chris for a year and a half I though he was different. I mean, I had gotten him to stop chewing gum around me (that's kind of a different story) so I figured I could get him to change some other things as well, if needed. I'm not saying he has to change. I married him, I love him to death, but there's a few little things that could be tweaked a bit.

But it's true, "men don't change". But I don't care anymore. Why should I expect him to change things when I won't change my own ways? I talked about this in my church talk and I truly believe it, if you trust in your spouse, you can avoid all contention in marriage.

2. We Use a Lot of Dishes

There's two of us. We eat out more than we should. I tend to eat meals that don't use utensils. How on earth do we go through dishes so fast??? It's one of those mysteries I may never understand.

3. Cleaning is Hard

I'm a custodian, so I spend Monday through Friday from 5:00 to 9:00 cleaning in the student center on campus. This include vacuuming offices, taking out giant trash bags, and cleaning four bathrooms. So I have a hard time finding the energy and drive to clean my apartment. I hate the mess, but I am so sick of cleaning! And I get paid to clean at my job, at home I get to clean, then make a bigger mess, then clean again, and repeat again and again until I die.

So to help me us keep our home clean, I've made a list of the main things that need to be done this week (ie. cleaning the toilet, mopping the tile, vacuuming the living room) and during the week when we aren't in class or working, we can just take a little bit of time and finish one small thing on the list and then eventually all the work can get done! We're just starting it this week so I don't know how well it'll work, but I'll let you know.

4. Life Gets in the Way

Have you ever heard the quote: "Distance makes the heart grow fondest"? (Or the BNL version: "Absence makes the heart grow fungus.") Well after Chris and I spent eight months in a long distance relationship, we would both tell you that's crap. However, the quote does hold a bit of truth.

The first three months of our marriage we were constantly together, and it was fantastic! We loved being able to spend so much time together! Now we're in school and working and our schedules are so crazy that we seem to hardly see each other anymore! And while I miss spending all my time with him, the above quote has a point. It's like that Josh Turner song, "The longer the waiting the sweeter the kiss." (and I highly suggest you click on that link, it's one of my most favorite songs ever) The short times I get to see Chris now, are the sweetest moments and I love them so much. While our long distance relationship was hard, this not seeing each other as often makes things better.
...Does that make sense? That's sounds weird and wrong, like I'm saying I don't want to see my husband or something, but I do. I love him and would love to spend all my time with him, but life gets in the way, and we just have to accept that and make it work. And we make it work and we make our love grow even stronger in spite of it all.

5. Love Never Stops Growing

You can't talk about love without throwing a Brad Paisley song in there. Chris and I met almost two years ago. After a month of dating, we both knew we wanted to marry each other. We loved each other then and we still do, but it's so much stronger. Love never stops growing, and I love that so much! I'm so grateful to have such a strong love and to have it always keep growing! Cue another Brad Paisley song: