I have been keenly aware of the tendency to become very annoying right after getting married. Trying hard not to post too many wedding photos on Facebook all at once, etc. For someone who is pretty fatigued by planning an event of that scale, it is a surprising challenge not to fixate on these things as a recent bride. Sometimes it is even hard for the people who haven’t spoke to you about much else in a while to find something new to discuss.
I want to share with you some images that I have taken recently, but rather than share them all at once, I would like to break it up a bit. A lot has been going on over the last month, and I would like to give them each their due. Because it was crammed all together in a short span of time I don’t want to gloss over it and label it all “Wedding Stuff” or feel the need to shelve it until our anniversary.
This post is specifically honor my new husband. He is an incredible gift, and I don’t go more than a couple hours without receiving huge reminders that he is, in fact, a bit of a unicorn. To live life with him has been, in these short weeks, a dream. To know that we plan to stick things out together is also a phenomenal source of empowerment for me.
These past few months were busy, not only because of the wedding, but also trudging through my first (of three) years in Graduate school. I also had that traveling exhibit start off this Spring. My husband moved into our place, I moved in, we helped friends move, and when we came back from the honey moon it was only to move my office as well! Within this time of change I could also be loosing some close friends to other life changes like jobs and relocation. Babies have been born and people have moved away, but I count myself very fortunate to have someone to be the constant.
I once thought that a dedicated and loving friend can equate to the companionship found in a spouse. (Obviously I was not speaking from experience on the marriage side of things, and was thinking specifically about day-to-day caring and sharing of life and a less sexually fulfilling relationship, but…) I still believe that, actually, and wish that more of my single friends would take their friendships, including mine, just as seriously as they do the relationship of a potential mate. We hang so much on the idea of an ultimate mate/partner who can fulfill us in all these ways, but I truly think that life should be fulfilling in or out of a marriage-type relationship.
While I celebrate my relationship with my husband, I also celebrate each person that has shown me compassion through companionship – and therein defining what those could mean. For all those who have encouraged me on this path and for those who will be there to see where it leads, I thank you all…
Thank you, Crow Jonah, for promising to stay with me in the challenge of the valley and on the high mountain peaks – to discover love’s depths through me and within our community, together. Thank you for holding a view of love that is expansive and inflates my own. For being the greatest Feminist I know through your continuous actions of service toward me and those around us. I love you.
