Even after being married for close to 6 months, I still consider myself and Stephen "newlyweds." I am pretty I will consider us newlyweds until we have children. The reason for that could be because we got married so young, or maybe it is because sometimes it still is almost a shock to look down at the ring on my finger. As I look back on the past 6 months, I am amazed how much I have grown as a person, but I am also very aware of all the growth that is still to come. I am not going to pretend to be an expert on marriage, but I do want to share a little bit of what some people may not tell you about marriage.
This may not be the case for everybody, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if my situation was somewhat strange to many people. Before I was married, I had never lived on my own before. I didn't worry about paying for rent, groceries, utilities, insurance, etc. The most I had to pay for was gas money. I lived in a nice house with my parents and brother. Everything I was earning from my job was going into spending money for whatever I wanted. (I realize that makes me seem like a COMPLETE spoiled brat, hopefully most people know me well enough to know that I didn't let that get to my head too much.)
As you can imagine, moving out of the house where I had grown up- to a small apartment it a different city was a bit of a shock. Suddenly my money wasn't just my money anymore; My money was now rent, gas, utilities, groceries, phone bills, laundrymat money, and insurance. My money became our money.
I had never shared a bed with a man before. If I toss and turn and fidget during the night, I was no longer the only person to lose sleep. (Although, Stephen is a narcoleptic so it doesn't phase him as much as I feared.) I had been told by quite a few people that I snore pretty loud during the night, (my nephew told me on a scale of 1-10, I was a 9. He wanted to say 10 but he didn't want to be rude.) but I had never been in the position that someone woke me up to have me turn on my side to make the snoring stop.
Everyone has disgusting habits that they try to hide from the world, but when you and another person are living in a small, 1 bedroom apartment, those habits are impossible to hide anymore.
Every decision you make now affects another person.
You have to start picking your battles.
You have twice the laundry and dishes to do.
The past 6 months have been the most stressful, crazy, hard, painful, confusingly wonderful, fantastic, educational, loving, and all around amazing 6 months of my life so far.
People may not tell you that you will want to steal a moment for yourself only to find that once you are alone, you miss the person that was driving you crazy.
People may not tell you that sometimes you will want to throw in the towel or that you'll need to walk away from a fight to clear your head.
People may not tell you that you will fight over little things you never thought you would fight over.
People may not tell you that you suddenly have an entire other family to consider during the holiday seasons. He has spend every holiday with his family up until that point and you have spend every holiday with yours.
People may not tell you all the small things about marriage that end up being the hardest; but people may also not tell you all the little things about marriage that end up being the best.
People may not tell you how wonderful it is to wake up to the person you love every morning.
People may not tell you how nice it is to have someone there for you when you get home after a long day at work.
People may not tell you that a hug from that special someone will seem to be the only thing that will keep you sane in the hectic world we live in.
People may not tell you how special you will feel when the person you love kisses your forehead when you are sick.
People may not tell you that their favorite color has become the color of their loved one's eyes.
People may not tell you a lot of things about marriage. Maybe they will. I have learned and grown so much over the past 6 months and I am so excited to see what the future has in store for The Petersens!
