Normally, life is so hectic that Matthew and I do not know what day it is until Sabbath. It’s almost as if our bodies come to a halt when the day of rest arrives. However, we have recently learned when another day arrives- Thursday. Every Thursday night has become a major event on social media where all people can talk about is the show Scandal. People comment on the characters as if they personally knew them. At first I thought there were actual issues going on in Washington DC and that all of my friends were suddenly into politics. Silly me. Everyone was into politics but of a dysfunctional marriage and an inappropriate work relationship from a TV show.

It’s been a year!! I cannot believe that on this day last year I was preparing to walk down the aisle. It was pouring rain but I still think the rain was a blessing. What most people didn’t remember was that the tropical storm 2 days before was a Category 1 Hurricane that lost strength and turned into a tropical storm. What most people saw as a dark and gloomy day was a blessing to us. About 85% of our guests were from out of town. Can you imagine how terrible it would have been to cancel the wedding due to the weather? I watched the news the entire time waiting for the good news. God gave me a peace that it was not going to get cancelled and as you know….it did not. What an amazing God we serve!

While eating at Panera’s I saw something that left me in shock. A young man and a young woman came in and sat down at a table across from us. They looked upset and very tense. The young lady kept tapping her foot, rolling her eyes at the young man, and looking at her watch. Within minutes, another young lady walks in and sits at their table and their attitudes completely changed . Suddenly they had huge smiles on their faces. I heard the young lady introduce her husband to her friend that had just walked in and sat with them. They proceeded by discussing something (I guess they were selling something) in the most pleasant and energetic way they could. I could not believe it!

As happy as we are to be married it does not mean that everything is automatically perfect for the rest of our lives. Being married does not mean that you are the exception to the rule when it comes to dealing with problems. Trust me, we know first-hand. However, as a married couple we know that we no longer have to face things alone and that fact alone makes it all worth it. It is tricky to deal with stress when you are married because you do not want to take it out on each other. Dealing with stress gets even trickier when you are stressed with each other. For example, when you are upset at each other you do and say things that you don’t mean.

An interesting dynamic of going to school and working from home is deciding how to dress. We are both free to live our lives in pajamas and to be in our work out clothes before, during, and after exercise. We are free to be ourselves without anyone looking to judge or criticize us. It’s a great life! Our clothes are clean and nicely folded; we are definitely not slobs. We have never compromised our hygiene simply because there is no one here to notice. However, in our situation, what is the dress code when there is none?

After the honeymoon, I was very busy unpacking, organizing our home, and transitioning into all the new changes. Not only was I getting used to my new marital status, last name change, and the peace of not planning a wedding but many other things were going on. A few months before the wedding, I transferred to a school that allowed me to take courses online and I have been working as Matthew’s business partner on our business. There seemed to be a lot of good things happening at the same time. It’s not the first time I made transitions in life nor do I think it will be the last. However, it was my first time doing everything from home. It is hard to go from working outside of the home, school, driving a lot, and many different social interactions to talking to my husband and the rest is via technology. There are not many people that we personally know, our age, that have a lifestyle with as much freedom as we do; thus, making it difficult to find others to relate to. For example, today after breakfast we went to the pool to swim for a bit. Great lifestyles do not exempt you from adjusting to all the changes.