whoaa, one whole year later

Austin and I were married one year ago today. Wow.

For my anniversary post, I want to write about things I've learned about marriage in this past year. So, in Tempa-bullet-points-form, here are some of those things:

- Talk it out. But while talking it out, be sure to apologize. Both of you. To each other. And then wait. It will all settle down

- Create your own reality. You're creating your own norm as a couple and reinventing yourself as an individual. Embrace it.

- A different relationship brings changes. Life has changes. Learn to adapt and be okay with changes that may happen. Friends come and go, relationships with family even wax and wane; ensure that your family unit is the most solid of them all. Make it a priority.

- Everything is the same, but it isn't. Life somehow got deeper. This isn't actually a lesson, but just a really cool fact, that I want to know in 10 years I thought about a lot at this time. When people ask me, "What's married life like?" at first, I would just respond, "It's the same." and now my response, one year out, is "It's the same... only deeper. It's really fun."

- Make big decisions together. Always. Include each other in everything.

And, just for fun, top 10 favorite things about our wedding:

1. Walking down the aisle arm-in-arm with my groom
2. Seeing all of our friends and family who had traveled so far, just to spend the weekend with us, and be part of such a special weekend
3. The spur-of-the-moment decision to hug and kiss our family members as we walked back down the aisle
4. The friends who helped out with crazy last-minute stuff
5. Hand-making the invitations, ordering the flowers
6. The timeline actually working out!
7. The cupcakes!
8. Realizing my personal passion for beauty and artistic sense, that I did not know was there beforehand
9. The wedding band singer lying on the floor during the middle part of SHOUT! (my fav wedding song ever)
10. The entire weekend

And, just for my personal "closure" that I need, 5 things that were not ideal about our wedding:

1. Wedding photos getting lost, especially those really important family ones
2. Losing Jane's family heirloom handkerchief
3. Losing friends :(
4. Not giving my bridesmaids their gifts/letters
5. My parents being mid-divorce