marriage is...

Lucas and I recently celebrated our first year of marriage, and when I said, "Can you believe it's been a year already?" his reply was, "Can you believe it's only been a year?"

This year has been full of challenges and learning experiences and frustrations and just plain fun. These are a few things that marriage means to me. I would love to have you add to the list.

Marriage is...

-hard work.
-compromise, compromise, compromise.
-learning to love yourself the way your spouse does.
-ridiculous amounts of tickling. Not because I think it's fun...because Lucas does.
-accepting the fact that I will never be allowed to make tacos again.
-giving each other permission to be ourselves.
-learning the language of a NERD.
-listening to my husband regale me with his victories on WoW. (If you don't know, don't ask. Really.)
-bringing the crazy down a notch.
-keeping Mountain Dew in the fridge at all times.
-imagining the next fifty years.
-sharing your soul with another person and knowing it will be cared for.
-living with the clothes on the floor because they WILL get picked up in the next day or two.
-watching movies that you normally wouldn't watch in order to snuggle on the couch.
-talking things over before you make decisions.
-becoming less self-involved.
-speaking your other half's love languages, even if they are not yours.
-having someone around to do the home improvement projects you can't handle because you're a girl.
-putting SOME of his books on the bookshelf.
-wiping the hairs off the bathroom counter. Again. And then appreciating that he shaved.
-not what you expect.
-more than you could have imagined.