Excuse me while I try to grasp that Cody & I are celebrating 2 years of marriage. Oh what a weird, hectic, beautiful 2 years it has been! If you are new here, Cody & I were married (finally) on September 21, 2019. We met (officially) on October 1, 2011 and it was kind of an attraction at first sight type of thing. I am still trying to figure out how that was TEN years ago… uhm, WHAT?! We began officially dating April 24, 2014 after 3 years of the whole back and forth thing. He was away at college; I was home. We both dated other people in that timeframe, but always found our way back to each other. Let me just say, I am so thankful we did! It’s been a while since I have posted a “life” type of blog post, so I figured now would be a good time to share what I have learned in our 2 years of marriage.
It has been a long road to where we are today. A lot has happened. The loss of family members, buying a home, buying new cars, getting in a wreck, the loss of jobs, a freaking pandemic, starting WWAB, our entire TTC journey, the loss of a pregnancy; it has been an adventure to say the least.
When Cody & I got married, the talks of COVID were not a thing. I think around November of that year was when the news articles started appearing. Before we even hit our 6 months of marriage, the world was shutting down and we were all being told to stay in our homes. We would laugh and joke about how we can tell our kids and grandkids all about our crazy first year of marriage during a pandemic. Now, here we are- able to tell our grandkids about our crazy first 2 years of marriage during a pandemic.
While the first two years of our marriage haven’t been “picture perfect”, I think they have been perfect, for us. I know that the experiences we have now are only shaping us for the future and helping us grow not only alone but together.
While the pandemic has been hard, with even myself getting COVID at the end of 2020, the obvious hardest thing we dealt with was our miscarriage in early 2021. While that experience was traumatizing, and we are still healing from it, it has made Cody & I so much closer. Which, I didn’t know was possible. The way he supported me, cared for me, and to this day still checks in with me, just validates every single reason why I married him.
If you are reading this and are single, or dating- please take this as a sign to wait for your person-or really make sure the person you are with is THE one. Don’t settle. I know it can be hard being on the world’s timeline of when you should do this and that, but the world isn’t who is going to be holding your hand in the middle of the night while you cry yourself to sleep. It’s your partner.
While, Cody & I are nowhere near perfect, I love the way we are. I love our communication, our ability to just give each other space, how we look out for each other, how we trust each other. The list goes on. While I am sure you could care less about me gushing over how much I love my husband, I think it’s good to reflect and acknowledge how grateful I am for the life God has put before me. Even with our struggles and dealing with the things out of our control, the one constant there is I have Cody. He is my person, I am his, and that, behind my Faith, is the most important thing in my life.
I wanted to round up a few things that I have learned over the past couple years. While I could go on and on about the things I have learned throughout our entire relationship, I want to narrow it down to just the things I have learned about marriage.
What I Have Learned In Our 2 Years of Marriage
- Communication is KEY- we strive off over communicating. I know that isn’t for everyone, but I really think there is a whole new level of respect when you can freely talk about what is on your mind with your partner. If we have something on our mind that is bothering us, let’s talk about it. Even when it comes to our differences in political views or social issues, let’s talk about it. We aren’t going to agree on every single thing, but it is comforting to know that the person you chose to spend your life with will have those difficult conversations with you and be open to hearing a new perspective, or hearing that they upset you and are willing to apologize and move forward.
- When you are at your lowest low, lift each other up. The absolute hardest thing Cody & I have ever gone through is our miscarriage. If you are new here, I wrote about the experience HERE. What we went through was so trying and traumatic, but looking back now, I know that God used that experience to help us grow and become stronger. There were times where I would just look at him with complete disbelief of what was happening and all he had to do was hold my hand and tell me “it’s going to be okay, I’m here”. That’s all I needed. When the times go hard, we fought back harder, together.
- The whole “continue to date” thing is real, and great. We have really taking this one seriously in 2021. After being together so long, and going through so much, it can be hard to find the “excitement” all the time. Let’s be honest, everyone gets comfortable. It’s about putting in the effort like you did when you were dating and taking the time to spend ACTUAL quality time together. We have turned our “content shoot days” into little date days and it’s been so fun. We made it a thing to try out the newest and “hippest” restaurants in Houston (even though every now and then we just want to go to a favorite haha). Creating new experiences together, even if it’s just for a couple hours, and reconnecting can be therapeutic.
I don’t want this post to come off as a “Cody & I are perfect and this is what you should do” type of post. I just want to share my experiences as I am navigating it all, just like you. These are things that have helped us grow stronger in our marriage and if you are looking for ideas I want to be that resource for you. Life is far from perfect, no one’s is, but we try to make the most out of the cards that are dealt to us. For that, I am thankful.
In addition, to Cody, if you are reading this- Happy 2 years of marriage, my love. Here’s to a lifetime more!
We took some anniversary pictures earlier this month so I figured I would add them to the end of this post as a little icing on the cake. After all we have been through in year 2, I wanted to take the time to properly document us making it through. I shared these on my Instagram today too, if you aren’t following me there, you totally should!
