From Scratch

I'm 24, turning 25 in a little over a month.

The average age of marriage for a woman in the United states is 27 (29 for men).

We got married when I was 23, Thomas 22.

Now, if we lived back in the sixties, this would be the norm.

Actually, I'd be "old" when I got married, with the average woman getting married at 20 and the average man at 22.

Times have changed.

I've been told many times that Thomas and I got married too young, too fast.

Too fast? Excuse me?

Did the 5+ years of dating not count for anything?

Ha. Apparently not...

As for too young? Well, I have some thoughts about that.

Sure, we were on the young side of the norm.

But sometimes I think "the norm" are doing things backwards.

The typical thing to do these days is go to college, get a career, become established in your career, get married, enjoy married life together a bit, have a baby.

But I think if you do things in that order, you miss out on some great opportunities. 

I think if you've found the one you love, and you know they're the one you want to spend forever with, why wait? 

Who cares if you're still in school?

Or working a side job until you can find a job in your degree?

That's life. Go with it!

When you're newlyweds, you're not supposed to be settled into life.

You're supposed to just beginning your life, creating it together.

It's okay if you have no money.

Newlyweds are supposed to have mismatched furniture crammed into a one-bedroom apartment.

Life has a way of working itself out.

Going through those experiences help bring you and your spouse together.

They create memories.

They create love.

I love that I've had the opportunity to experience this side of life with Thomas.

The side where we struggle with bills, shop thrift stores and garage sales, and coupon like crazy. 

It adds something...value? Coziness? Closeness? Can't quite put my finger on it...to our relationship.

Anywho, all I'm sayin' is you don't have to have your life set in order and everything aligned before you get married. 

That's part of the fun of getting married you: building a life together from scratch.