The Struggle of Early Marriage (for week ending Nov 3rd)

Hey everyone!
Ok, so this week was a fun one because we got to talk about the early stages of marriage and what it's really like for a new couple. Now, don't let the title scare you away, marriage is still as beautiful as everyone makes it sound, it's just that there's a reality to it that the movies don't show.
In class, we came up with a list of struggles a newly married couple might have. I'm going to toss out there some that I remember and then discuss a few.

- Sharing a bed together
- Combining schedules
- Combining values
- Traditions
- In-Laws
- Working around and adjusting routines
- Finding time for each other
- Accommodating for isms about your spouse that you may not have known about before.

The last one is a struggle that I think everyone is aware of an I think that everyone is aware of because there's lots of jokes about it. I hope Brother Williams doesn't min me sharing but he have a great example of this in class. He told us about the day he discovered that his wife was 'evil'. What could she have possibly done? you may ask. Well... ya see.... she opened his mail. It may seem like an incredibly silly thing, and he may recognize that now, but a spouse has to be considerate and understand that this may not be something they are ok with or used to. His wife's explanation was that her mother had always opened everyone's mail and only gave to her husband the important stuff, whereas Brother William's family treated mail as a more private thing. So, from that they had to work to understand each other and make adjustments that worked for both of them.

Another one on this list that people may not think about it sharing a bed with someone. I know that I don't give much thought to how I behave when I sleep. I suppose I like to be under the covers, warm, on my side and I imagine I would wrap my leg around my husband's waist if I had one. But what if my future husband likes a cold bedroom and can't get comfortable if he's suck under my leg or he snores and it keeps me awake. Come to find out, sharing a bed with someone is not easy at all. The movies always make it look like they sleep a solid, cute, cuddly night together right away, but in reality it takes lots of work, practice, adjusting, etc. It may even take weeks or months before you both settle into a bed time regime that works for both of you and gets you to sleep.

I could go on forever about all the different struggles you may find when trying to combine two individuals into a united body, but really, the message I want to send is that you shouldn't be fooled by Kodak movie moments. There's lots of them in store, but there's lots of work to be done in between.