2nd Anniversary and 2016 Year in Review

How time flies! Though to be honest, I sometimes feel like we've been married for longer than that. I sometimes wonder that's a good or bad sign. Either way, I felt like the first two years have been filled with so many twist and turns that couldn't possibly fit into such a short span of time.

I would sum up my emotions as overall satisfied with where we are. In the first year of our marriage, we struggled with our new roles and new identity. We were unsure how to split responsibilities or where to draw the line in our efforts to "support" the other. To make matters worse, there were issues of house fires and family dramas that neither of us knew how to handle post-marriage.

This second year of marriage wasn't necessarily easier, but we're both much more in sync. We definitely shared more laughter than sorrow this year. From graduating with my bachelors in the winter and having that long break off from school to focus on renovating your parents house, you paying off your school loans, you getting a new job at Oracle, us purchasing our first home, us attempting DIY renovations and actually completed the process in two months (go teamJA!), me getting an internship offer all the way to me completing my first quarter of my master's program. I guess our teamwork and perseverance are finally paying off.

Of course, there are still so many loose ends left untied, and I'm slightly anxious what 2017 will bring, but I am much more confident in our ability to work it through together as a team. I think we've made great improvement in slowing down to fully listen and decipher what the other is saying and feeling. Even though we've been together for so long and have gotten so much more compatible, I'm still in awe at how fundamentally different we are at the core of our personalities. I think we've both come to finally accept that there's no way we will ever agree on anything naturally without a thorough conversation or discussion, and working on this has greatly improved our expectations of one another. 

Still, I am proud of our achievements this year! May we enter the new year with this newfound confidence and tackle or enjoy whatever the Lord has to offer us this upcoming year.

I love you. Happy 2nd Anniversary!