the first year of marriage... // shannon from shannanigans

Shannon is past bride No. 4 and is the coolest mama I know! Please visit her blog when you have the chance -- and get ready to laugh. Seriously. :)

Hello PSL readers! My name is Shannon and I author the blog Shannanigans. The lovely Amanda has asked for my thoughts on my first year as a married lady. As the mother of a nine month old, I have a hard time remembering basic things, like taking a shower, so my memories of five years ago might be a little dusty. But let’s take a crack at it. 

I think the first time I came across the term Smug Married was in reading Bridget Jones Diary. I immediately identified.  On September 9, 2006, I married John.  As soon as we marched out of that church, I pictured myself sitting a little bit higher. I was married. I had a husband and a shiny new last name.  I sported two rings now and like many young married gals, it gave me a smug sense of comfort.  Hopefully I was never outwardly smug but inside, I was sitting up on a high horse.  I no longer had to worry about silly things like the dating world or if I would get a plus-one on a wedding invite.  Or more serious things like my sub-par health insurance. To me, marriage solved a whole lot of pesky problems and just made life easier.

Of course, there are always those people who can’t stop asking you how married life is going. It’s usually the same people who tell newlyweds that the first year of marriage is the hardest and that marriage is hard work. As soon as we got married, this is all I heard.  After living together for a few years then after a few blissfully married months, marriage wasn’t hard.  I thought there was supposed to be trouble or fights and when there wasn’t. So what did that do? Made me even more smug.  I was excelling at marriage! Am super-smart! Am perfect wife!  Can’t nothing stop me!

We lived life to the fullest. We stayed out late and woke up even later. We went on trips. We went mini golfing, wine tasting and Ikea-shopping. We spent all of our time together and it was awesome.  After awhile I realized that this was how the first year of marriage should be, easy peasy lemon squeezy…when you’re married to the right person.  Now, we look back on our first year with a bit of wistfulness for the lack of responsibility and a bit of nostalgia for our young and crazy ways.  Sure, there’s nothing like having a solid history behind you at 5 years in, but that first year? That first year was oh so good.