Well, it’s officially been 6 months since Ryan and I got married! I can’t believe that half a year has already passed. So much has happened, and yet it somehow feels like it was just last month.
There is a period of adjustment that comes with any large life-changing event—graduations, moving to a different city, changing jobs, etc.—but the one that accompanies getting married is special. Obviously, one reason is that getting married is a permanent life change, one that is really only topped with having a child. However, another reason I’ve realized is that in the months before a wedding, you become so enveloped in planning the event that going back to a more everyday, non-planning routine can feel like a major change in and of itself. Let alone adjusting to a routine married to your significant other.
I look back to what my life was this time last year, and there is just about nothing that is the same now as it was then. Last February, I was getting fitted into the most beautiful white dress I’ll ever wear and frantically trying to decide details about the wedding location, while mapping out the wedding week with my maid of honor. I had three sets of to-do lists, all having to do with the wedding, which I cross-referenced with each other and pored over for hours at a time. (I told you, I’m a little OCD with my lists.) I was also waking up in my childhood bed, in the bedroom I grew up in, and eating breakfast with my parents before hopping off to either of my two part time jobs. I was letting them know when I’d be back home, and trying to come in quietly so as not to wake anyone up late at night. Now, I wake up next to my husband, make us breakfast (and lunch, and dinner), we make what plans we want without having to consult anyone else, and my time spent with my parents is planned out in advance.
Stacks of books like this used to be my life.
That’s a big change in lifestyle in a short period of time. But the biggest adjustments I felt I faced soon after the wedding were the simpler things. For instance, I used to have my dad’s company every early morning before work, so when the days came where I would have to wake up and get ready quietly by myself, I was a bit nostalgic for the younger times. And, of course, as I’ve talked a bit about in my earlier post on how “married life” is, there were the adjustments to no longer having my mom be the primary homemaker (thanks, Mom!)
All things considered, though, I’ve adjusted to the little life Ryan and I have begun to live together. Before we got married I was a little concerned about what living with a boy (gasp!) might be like, or whether we might tire of spending so much time together in close quarters, but neither of these things have occupied my worries since. It is a strange feeling having lives quite separate from our parents now, but it’s exciting at the same time. I’m anxious to see how the second half of our first year together will go! I’ll try to keep a running update for anyone interested 🙂
To any readers, what things did you learn or face in the first few months after your wedding?
Stream of Consciousness 