Marriage can be a challenge. There are ups and downs as life throws you curveballs. My husband and I are still young in our marriage, but we’ve been through alot together already (most notably a hectic pregnancy, delivery and NICU stay). Despite some of the difficulties we’ve faced, we love married life. Here is my list of 10 things I love about being married!

1. Married Life Is An Adventure

You basically never know what is going to happen next! Before we got married, everything hinged on getting to the wedding date so life would slow down and we could enjoy it. But it didn’t slow down at all! We got married, moved, I started university in a big town, he got a new job, we went on a late honeymoon, got pregnant, and then had a baby, all in a year. Now we chase a toddler around and try to make sure he doesn’t break anything important while managing a side business and taking care of things around the house. Who knows what our next adventure will be!

2. We Are Never Alone

We’ve had a lot of rough nights in our marriage, some due to issues during pregnancy and health issues, others due to the fact that toddlers think sleeping is evil. We’ve dealt with more ER trips than should be necessary for any one family in their entire lifetime, but we’ve gotten through it, together. We’ve always been there for each other because we are a team in life now.

3. We Get To Goof Off Together

Y’all, my husband is so goofy, and I love it. He likes to practice his numerous different voices for characters he has in his head when we are driving, and cooking dinner, and going to bed…really all the time. I also have a goofy side, but it manifests by scaring him at inopportune times, locking him outside the car and making him dance before I let him back in…you know, that sort of thing. 

4. We Drive Each Other Crazy

On top of goofing off together, we also tend to lapse into driving each other crazy. I like singing off key to country songs he hates (which is practically all of them) and he likes telling me that all country music songs are about duct tape and pickle jars. At which point, he makes up a “country” song to prove this point.

He also insists that there is a right way to put on the toilet paper roll, and I disagree, but you know what? It doesn’t matter if you can’t even put the toilet paper roll on the roller because the toddler is like a cat and will unroll it all and throw it in the toilet, so ha! We will settle this one when our son acts more like a human than a cat.

5. Life Isn’t About You Anymore

It has been said that parenting will knock the selfishness right out of you, but I contend that marriage provides the training wheels for learning that. You will, either instinctively or by intentional decision, begin to put the needs of your spouse before your own. Life becomes about doing what is best for them, not doing all the things you want.

6. We Become Different People Together

I always think it is interesting when I see conversations in Facebook groups about how one spouse has “changed” and they are no longer the person who the poster married. Perhaps I’m missing the mark, but I think to myself, “Isn’t that the point?” Since my husband married me, I’ve gone from a technical “teen” to a twenty-something, from a childless woman to the mother of a beautiful little boy, and added on some baggage from the traumatic pregnancy and NICU stay.

I am most definitely not the woman he married, but that is a good thing. If I was, I would wager something would be wrong. Experiences and time change people, and expecting any less is a little delusional. I’m thankful that I’ve had the honor of watching my husband become a father and watched him accel in different career paths. We’ve become different people together, and that is a wonderful thing.

7. The Inside Jokes

My husband and I have so many inside jokes. Some of which have gotten me in trouble, but that is a story for another time. I remember having random inside jokes with my friends as a kid, but they weren’t personal, they were based on pop culture or the community we were in. The inside jokes my husband and I have are about anything and everything in our lives, and occasionally we will try to get each other to laugh at inappropriate moments by using the code words for some of them.

8. We Get to Sleep in the Same Bed

This one might not be appreciated as much by common culture, but my husband and I participated in the purity culture movement, and as a result, were virgins on the wedding night. There were a lot of rules and things we couldn’t do, but I never realized how nice it would be to literally just sleep in the same bed together. I think this is one of the most underappreciated aspects of marriage, actually sleeping next to someone…even if they hog covers or snore. 

9. Sex (Am I allowed to say that?) 

As I mentioned before, my husband and I waited until we were married to have sex. It is definitely one of the best parts of married life, in my humble opinion. I’ve written for Anne about some of the issues with purity culture making things difficult for us early on, but after a bit of deprogramming, I can say I’m glad we waited and I can only see things getting better from here. 

10. Best Friends For Life

I think the best part of married life is knowing that you get to spend every day going forward together, looking forward to seeing each other, anticipating and rising to challenges in life and doing that not just “together” but as best friends. I’m so thankful I made the leap and said “I do” to my husband. I can’t imagine life without him.