Lucky 7

It is hard to believe that 7 years ago this week I went from daily phone calls and the beginning of a crush on T to becoming his girlfriend. At the time I was five months into my move to Worcester, MA and thought nothing would become of the guy I went on two dates with just weeks before my departure to New England. Life had unexpected plans for me.

Seven years later and we have been through so many adventures.

We survived 4 months of long distance dating and became experts at the airport goodbye.

We successfully managed the transition from never living with a significant other to living together without killing each other.

We rescued Kavalier and made our family of 3.

We survived layoffs and career changes.

We discovered our own little paradise on Earth (Key West) and got engaged there.

We maneuvered the home buying process and planned a wedding. Not at the same time, kudos to those who handle both in the same year.

We managed to stay sane during his thesis work in our first year of marriage.

We have lived in a new city and state for the last 6 months and truly learned how strong our bond is. If you ever want to see how strong your marriage is, just move out of state and see how it tests both of you.

Lessons from 2 years of marriage

Two years ago today all the planning and stress paid off when I walked down the aisle to marry my husband. We lived together for a few years before getting married, so honestly I shrugged off the people who warned me that the first year of marriage was the hardest. For us that wasn't the case. If anything this second year of matrimony has been far more challenging for us as a couple. In year number 2 we decided to put our house on the market, dealt with the stress of selling a house, moved states, and went from living in a 3 bedroom house to a l bedroom apartment in a much more expensive area of the country.

Compromise is a verb.

Everyone knows how important compromise is to any marriage. We hear and read about it all the time. But it is the truth, sometimes you are the one who has to compromise. And it isn't always easy. Sometimes it will feel like one person is doing all the bending backwards, but that is just the ebb and flow of marriage. It is not just about you anymore.

Remember that you are on the same team.

One of the toughest adjustments has been living in a smaller space than we are used to. Add in the fact that we went from living in our hometown with family and friends for support to becoming each other's main support in a new state and you get stressful situations with your spouse. It is easy to forget that you are both going through a transitional phase and you need to be each other's support.

Don't forget to be silly with each other.

We love to act silly with Kavalier often. Having time to just let loose is necessary for a marriage to last. I like to think we have this pretty well covered in our relationship.