It’s our one year wedding anniversary! What I’ve learned about marriage

Wedding anniversary is a time to celebrate the beauty, gift, and the blessing of our enduring love. This special day is a time to look back at the good times and a time to look ahead to live our dreams together.

Tomorrow, the 29th of January marks our big milestone, my husband and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary. Five years since we first laid eyes on each other and we are still learning one another but thankfully, also still loving one another too. As we get ready to ring in the New Year I thought I would take a moment to share some of the lessons that were solidified for us or that we learned about our marriage and each other this year. We still have a lot of growing to do but we are committed to growing together, one day at a time.

Love brought us together as husband and wife and gave each of us a best friend for life. Perhaps it sounds cliché and all but I really cherish each moments as time goes on. As I sit serenely on my balcony and looking far across the horizon, I could recall the moments leading up to my big day. I was making sure last minute wedding details were taken care of, savoring the bride-to-be pampering by my family and close knit members of the family, watching the decorations being put up, gently reminding my makeup lady and wondering anxiously about how the event of my lifetime is going to take place. It was so beautiful. And I could still feel like it was only yesterday.

Now, I am into a year of marriage with the man of my life, Raj and couldn’t ask for a better soul mate. So what have I learned within a year? For many of us, marriage is an eloquent aide memoire that on which our lives revolve around.

Even though we were halfway around the world from each other, we still learned some valuable lessons about marriage. Here’s to another year of love and lessons learned after one year of marriage!

Grow Separately but Not Apart

One of the most valuable lessons that I learnt and taught people around me is about growing separately but not apart. I believe it's pertinent to my marriage as many twitch when they hear about my long distance marriage. In fact some even ridicule that we are ‘living apart’ after marriage. It is not ‘living apart’ but I would strongly say it is living independently. To my incredulity, the many that fail to understand our bonding will never understand the sanctity of our marriage until their mindset really comprehend to do so. As for both of us, we appreciate ourselves more and realize we learn more valuable lessons about marriage. The tolerance, devotion, affection and mutual understanding that we learnt and shared has brought us to where we are today. We are going to change and grow over time. But the key is to not grow apart.

Remembering our wedding vow

Each time I will be reminiscent the way I felt the day my husband and I exchanged our vow and I remember the promise of our love. It reminds me why I love my husband so much and why I chose him. Sometimes it can a splendid romantic gesture that he does for me or perhaps it’s just the little things that I have to watch out for. At the end of the day, it’s the little things that go a long way to inspire the feelings. As long as I get a little bit of that every day, everything else comes easy.

A good friend in my husband

Before getting hitched, both of us are best of friends. We spend time together and always make an effort to be there for each other when needed. The more we treat each other as friends, life is more fun. Both of us laugh together, confide in one another, share our happiness and sadness, keep each other’s secrets and do things that we both love to do. It makes a huge difference as we both continue to relish our lives as time goes on.

Re-live our Romantic Rendezvous

Even after marriage, we both continue to date like how we used to be in our early days of courtship. The relationship blossoms with every moment spent to re-live our dating days and make us feel younger too. Raj always impresses me with even the little things he does for me out of blue and makes effort to create sparks in our bond like before. I hope to do the same for him more in future.

Appreciative of our life

Life is so beautiful. Yet life is never like a bed of roses all the time. Keep living, loving, and moving forward one step at a time. And ever so often take a moment to look back, not to live in the past but rather, but to see how far you've come. I have come to believe to see beyond those hiccups and be grateful to be blessed with a good life and a charming husband.

Be there for each other

It’s never too difficult to stand by each other in times of need. I think being there for each other are really important and if you think you have to go an extra mile to do so, by all means, do so. Everyone loves that little boost that comes from someone you love so much. Raj and I look up to each other from time to time and we both have been a great inspiration for one another. Trust me, it works like magic.
Magnanimous for a better life
More often than not, it takes a moment to look back, not to live in the past but rather, and to see how far we have come. Life is short and time is ephemeral too. I learnt not to miss out every single moment of my life on a chance to enjoy one another. Life is all about give-n-take. So I keep living one step at a time.

So that was the very few lessons that the one year stint taught me. I’m so happy I married Raj and couldn’t have asked for a better husband. I never even thought I’d get married let alone meet a man like Raj, so really, I still pinch myself sometimes.