On Being Married

...and they lived happily ever after.  Okay, but what did that really look like?  The boy gets the girl and they ride off into the sunset, but then what?  No one ever tells you what a truly happy marriage is about.  It's not about the end of the love story in a movie, it's about all the stuff that happens after that sunset. 

It's about...

Repeating favorite one-liners from movies and songs, all the time.

Doing the laundry and never folding it.

Cooking, hopefully together like we do in our house. 

Cleaning the kitchen and taking out the trash. 

Talking about mundane things from your day. 

Funny pet names. 

Silly grade school humor, including fart jokes. 

Riding in the car and not talking for miles.

Being comfortable in silence together. 

Having someone to travel with. 

Adjusting bra straps and sinching up suspenders. 

Accepting the clutter and the habits of the one you love. 

Remembering and reminding. 

Never going to bed mad. 

Snoring and talking in your sleep. 

Meltdowns during the high-stress parts of your life together. 

Little things. 

Lowering your expectations.

Laughing at the same inside jokes.

Balancing checkbooks and paying bills.

Being in love, but more importantly, being loved.

It's about finding someone you love being naked with.

Being married is about all the little, less than glamorous things in life.  There won't be rose petals all over your bed every night and baths by candlelit are something in the movies.  It's way more about dirty socks on the floor, coats on doorknobs, getting dressed out of the laundry basket, changing the cat box, and eating breakfast for dinner because anything else sounds like to much work.

The next time you think marriage is about living happily ever after, remember what that really looks like.  Leave your rose colored glass behind.  The real thing is so much better, trust me.  All the little things, good or bad, make marriage so much more than happily ever after.