We were truly babies when we got married. I had JUST turned 22, and Jason was just shy of his own 22 birthday. Like I said, babies!
I look back at when we were dating and truly wonder what the heck I was rushing for. Why was I so eager to get married. I'm not joking, I literally begged Jason to propose. I cried. At 19, I acted like we were never going to get married because he hadn't proposed already. It's truly embarrassing. But at that point I knew. I truly knew with my entire heart that we were meant to be and didn't understand why we couldn't just get on with it and start our lives. I've always lived my life in the fast lane in that way. Once I get it in my head that I want or need something, nothing gets in my way. Not even my boyfriend.
Poor guy, didn't stand a chance.
But, for a couple of kids, we sure do look happy and sure of ourselves on our wedding day, don't ya think?
Those early years were no walk in the park. We continued our trend of our years dating spending most of our time apart between his time in the Navy and my job traveling with St. Jude. We were young, wild and free. And, we didn't have a clue about what it meant to be married. We didn't communicate well - about finances, growing pains of living together, and handling our incredibly demanding schedules. It was tough.
I read more articles than I should have about how getting married so young pretty much puts the nail in the coffin on your ability to stay married. It seemed we had so many strikes against us.
And, between that and our inability to communicate, it was tough. We made mistakes. We fought, with each other and for each other. Somewhere in there we had an amazing little girl. And somewhere in the 3 1/2 years since she was born we figured it out.
Do we have a perfect relationship? Hardly. But, we have learned that our words and actions have consequences. We've learned that we are willing to fight for each other, because our family is worth it. We've learned that our little girl is the center of our world and she deserves the best version of us.
We've hit a stride. As hard as it is to say, moving away from our comfort zone a year ago changed the dynamic of our marriage, for the better. We've had to become a team.
We have moved away from our family, started new jobs, added a mortgage to our lives, and come out stronger. How is that possible? I'm not sure. But, I know that I'm so thankful for my partner. I'm so thankful that we've made it to our 6th anniversary and we are truly not looking back.
Summer 2012, a little chubbier. I call them love pounds, each one has been earned. =)
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