Year One

The first year of any marriage is hard. It's been known to be the "hardest" as a lot of married couples like to say. You experience the mixed emotions of living with someone and having to deal with their strange habits. For instance when they leave their wet towel on the floor or they don't clean up after themselves. And then there is the money thing. A whole other component to trying to work together and still make each other happy. Yesterday was our one year anniversary. One small year has somehow felt like 5 very long ones. Yes we've experienced the things above and yes they were hard but as I look back I laugh at them because I know now how so unimportant most of it was. We have been through a rough year. Our first deployment and then a death of our sweet baby girl. When most couples in their first year are struggling to figure out how to tell the other that when they leave their shoes in the middle of the floor it bothers them, we were trying to figure out how to cope being away from each other separated by thousands and thousands of miles. When others were angry because the trash hadn't been taken out on trash day we were crying in each others arms from a loss so devastating we will hurt from it for the rest of our lives. Because of all that we went through we were forced to communicate to look at ourselves and to figure out who we were. Not just as individuals but also in our marriage. So many couples crumble under the smallest of trials because the truth is marriage is hard. I will never say that I'm happy about what we had to go through but I am happy that we were forced to be tested that our relationship was put under trial. We went through some of the hardest things that a marriage can go through and we did it in the first year, the hardest year. I smile now because we are still standing, not just standing, but standing strong and tall. Anything since is a breeze and if something harder comes along I can look at my hand where my husband holds it and know he nor I are going anywhere. I love you Zach you are truly my rock and my soulmate <3