Luke and I have been married for one year tomorrow and I thought I would take time to reflect on our first year of marriage.
Luke and I have decided that our best wedding present has been Nutley and Blackavar. How lucky are we to have such great animal friends? They have brought so much joy to us. I really consider them to be our kids.. but so much easier and laid back. We love them so much. We feel really lucky too when we get to share our kitties with others (even though I am sure that watching us play with our cats isn’t the funnest)
I’ve decided that getting married is one of the healthiest things I’ve done. Luke and I keep each other going to the gym and eating right (with a few splurges… OK well a lot of those). With that has come a lot of confidence both mentally and physically. It’s been great to have a friend to keep you going. It’s also good to have someone who tells you to take a break too.
The hardest thing that’s happened over the year has been my job search. I mean I went a long time without a job and that was hard since all my life I’ve had a job– I sort of felt like I was lacking purpose. Part of my struggle was due to the hours that I wanted.. I didn’t want to work different hours (or much different hours) from Luke. That limited me b/c big places like Walmart and other stores weren’t interested in me. I was looking for something similar to my job at Mammoth Cave.. or something that uses my skills. I looked at Shaker Village. .the truth though is that it’s kind of far away and I wasn’t going to be making enough to even out the driving time and car usage. Not to mention the job was seasonal. Maybe some other time I can get on there. In the end I was hired by a family owned embroidery shop in town that I can walk to. It’s been an interesting experience. I continue to learn more about working with people and providing a custom item for them to enjoy. I have really tried to figure out away to use machine embroidery in a conceptual manner. Still working on that. I’m still looking for a better job though… I’m always looking for something at Centre and other places where I can really use what I know. Not to mention I’m really trying to make a little more money to help pay off student loans, so we can get a better car, and so we can look to traveling a little, maybe even get a house of our own. Don’t get me wrong.. my job is a respectable one but it’s a stepping stone for me.
A great thing that marriage has brought me is time to think over college. While I had opposite feelings at the beginning of our marriage, I am REALLY glad that I didn’t go straight into grad school. I don’t think grad school art would have been right. Since then I have figured out that I would like maybe to teach or something in that field. I’ve thought a lot about this– maybe science or social studies– if not both. I would like to teach lower grades.. like either elementary or middle school. I’m waiting though b/c I want to be able to afford to go to school. Since I already have a BA that should help me get certification faster… like in two years or less. So that’s my hope!
Luke continues to grow in his computer interests– which is great! As long as he keeps moving forward there no telling where it will take him. I think it’s going to be worth all the extra time he puts into it. I really respect his interest and desire to learn more. It keeps me on my toes. I feel I need to craft as much as he computes. So it’s encouraging.
So, that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our first year of marriage reflection. Obviously we’ve learned a lot and will learn a lot more. It’s been exciting, scary, fun, sad and so much more.. I can’t wait to find out whats to come next! Thanks so much for everyone who has helped us through the first year.
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Wow! Thanks for sharing all that. I wish I had written down simlar reflections after my first year of marriage. We should try to get Lee to write one next year.