Today marks 4 months of marriage for M and I. Today is also the day that I decided to live less by my habits and more by my intentions.
Marriage (not just any marriage but being sealed in the temple) is truly the most wonderful blessing that I have ever received. I have always been surrounded by so many people who love me and who I love back; but loving one person deeply is a feeling that seems inadequately expressed when put to words. It is a feeling that cannot be replaced by anything else in all the world. Michael is the best man I have ever known and getting to know and love him more each day makes all the bad in the world seem a little bit more bearable. Life certainly is not all roses and daisies. Marriage is hard. Learning to live with someone else's quirks and imperfections while showing them all of yours is tough. But accepting those quirks and improving upon those imperfections creates such a rich bond between two people who have chosen to build one beautiful life together. Love, in the purest form, manifests itself in these types of relationships and I am so grateful for mine.
As I look back on the last four months, I pray for the next four months to contain much of what has already been found: joy in the every day mundane tasks like going to work, coming home, cleaning the house, doing laundry, trying to figure out what to make for dinner, going to the gym, and spending time with those I love. Things like watching Michael as he works to be a provider for our family, figuring out new hobbies that I enjoy and some that I don't (I killed every flower that I planted) and things like sitting in separate rooms doing separate things, but making eye contact and smiling knowing that you are there together. So much of life is spent wishing for things to be different, but why not just embrace what you don't have control over and work toward changing what you do. Life would be so much more fulfilling that way. That is why I have decided to stop making excuses for myself because of habits I may have and instead, to actually do what I intend. I know it will provide for an even happier existence. I don't want to merely exist, in the end I want to know that I have lived. And lived well.
So here's to 4 more months of living joyfully with the ones that I love.
