I've changed my mind about Marriage

Fortunately and unfortunately there exists a video of me when I was about 14 or 15, sitting in a chair at my friend's house, staring directly into the camera and telling the world that I would never get married. While everyone around me was laughing and telling me that I'd change my mind one day, in that moment...

I meant it.

I hated marriage. To me it was a painful torturous tradition that made my brothers move out and my parents fight.

When one of my brothers was about to get married, I was heart broken. Both of them sat me down and told me that this was a good thing. But I was a teenager, I knew everything, like really, I did. And I knew that this was a bad idea. Stupid love drunk kids.

The truth is I had good reason to hate marriage. I honestly didn't have a great example of what it was suppose to be. Not to throw shade at people who were married at this time in my life, but I didn't have one example that seemed remotely attractive to me. Not one. Most didn't seem to even like their spouse, and at best they seemed indifferent to whether or not their spouse was in the same room as them, and some seemed to treat their spouse like a glorified babysitter.

I know for the most part people were joking about spouses; maybe the "ol' ball and chain" or saying things like "the dishwasher" while pointing at their wife behind her back. But hearing those kinds of jokes only reinforced my already negative view of marriage. And especially since I loathe doing dishes, that was not going to be my life title.

It didn't help, either, that I lived in a little bubble. Sure I had my family and church, but beyond that, I didn't know much of the world. So I didn't see all the good and helpful things that marriage could bring. And since my limited TV watching was usually the classy Phil McGraw (You can't change what you don't acknowledge. ~Dr.Phil) I usually only saw the bad and sad.

On the blue moon occasions when I saw a little ray of marital goodness, it was short lived. Since I am a self proclaimed genius, I decided that it was better to be alone. If it was good enough for Paul the Apostle, it was good enough for me.

Once I grew up a little, and started my own adventures of life on my own, I realized life is more fun with someone. I started to realize "Oh this is why people get married, they get a little desperate, and then they get trapped." Ahhhh, yes. I had figured it out. Marriage was a sign of desperation.

Then I met that guy, Eric. Something about him made me want to hold his hand. The beauty of the situation was that I wasn't lonely. I was perfectly happy with my life. I wasn't even close to desperate. He just made me want to sit next to him. Be by his side.

Most people don't know, but Eric and I dated for a month (May-June 2011) and got married three months later (July-Sept 2011). Most people were probably screaming "pump the breaks" but I was now that stupid love drunk kid.

I'd somehow, somewhere, changed my mind about marriage.

I probably have about a million things I could address at this point in this post that may be running through your mind: "that's how they all start", "that's too fast", "most marriages start that way", "that's the honeymoon stage", "that will wear off", "love is blind, marriage is an eye-opener". Since I have life responsibilities, Yeah, I'm looking at you laundry, I will leave you with this.

It's been almost six years of marriage, and without a word of exaggeration: it has only gotten sweeter. He still makes me smile and laugh till I snort. He gives me butterflies when he walks through the door after work. Watching him play with our baby makes me feel like I may burst with all the teary emotions. Picking up his socks makes me chuckle, not get angry.

But all of that isn't on accident. We make it happen. Everyday. That's what marriage is. In the words of God, "it is good".

So I've changed my mind: marriage is beautifully designed by the master creator, to be enjoyed and celebrated. It's not our anniversary, or his birthday, or valentine's day, it's just another "everyday" but I chose to love him more than I did yesterday.

Side note: if you read this and it made you happy: yay, let's be happy together. If this post made you mad: I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention, see if a doctor can remove the stick up your butt. If you're single and this post made you jealous, pray for your future marriage. But most importantly, if you're married and this post made you envious, get help. Whatever it takes me make your marriage stronger and better, DO IT! The price of counselling, marriage guide books, or date nights, is nothing compared to the reward of a healthy marriage. I don't have the answers, but God does. My advice is make him the center of your marriage and it cannot fail.

P.S. Eric, if you're reading this, I like your face. I hope I can make you smile as much as this meme always does.

Super Honesty Time

This post is kind of embarrassing.

But it's something quite a few people deal with and it sucks.

If someone had found a solution for this problem and not told me about it I would want to smack them. So since I don't want anyone to smack me, I'm going to share what I've discovered.

My problem started back in high school.

I would be sitting in class, temperature of the room was normal, I wasn't necessarily nervous (maybe if I had a test or presentation coming up) but for the most part I felt fine. But for some stupid reason my armpits felt the need to leak.

Why?

Who knows. Not me. It had me so frustrated. I would leave class to go air dry my shirt in the bathroom because of the river that had sprung forth.

I tried everything. The crystals, au natrual, clinical strength deodorant, even men's. But it wasn't that my arm pits were smelly, just wet. All the time. Wet.

Fast-forward to my mid-twenties. I still struggled with it. Every shirt I own is stained. And usually within three wears. Which is pathetic. I don't like buying clothes because I know they are going to be ruined in a month. Super lame. Right?

I know all the little tricks to try and remove pit stains or try to prevent them. I've tried walking with Kleenex under my arms. It's not as fun as it sounds.

While I was pregnant I had had enough. All my precious maternity shirts were ruined. I asked my doctor - he recommended Botox. And while I'd love to be that cool, I'm not that rich. So I searched and searched and prayed. Finally I found something. Now since this product isn't recommended while pregnant or breastfeeding, I had to wait. But I finally tried it.

My life has forever been changed.

It's been two days and not a drop of sweat. I don't care if that's not natural, because what's even more unnatural is not lifting my arms up... ever.

Here's the deal, I was going to post a link to the product for everyone to enjoy, but since I had the courage to make an entire post about my sweaty armpits, if you want to know the product... you need to comment.

Yeah, I'm mean like that.

I don't sell it. I'm not making money off of it in anyway. I'm not trying to sucker you into messaging me and then I try to make you join my army of non-sweaty pitted people. I just want to know that there's other people out there who may have struggled or are struggling too. So that's my catch. You have to come forward with your sweaty arm raised and say "I want help". Got it?

It's a money back guarantee product and it even works on other areas of the body.

So don't delay. Did I mention it's only $14.95 right now!?!?