Let's Celebrate! One Year of Marriage + The Things We've Learned Along the Way

One year. Wow - what a year it has been. I can't believe that a year ago last Sunday, we made our vows forever. We've learned a lot in the one year of marriage. I've been planning for weeks to share some of what I learned on here and post this as a sort of surprise for Rick. After spending the weekend celebrating our one year anniversary with him, I decided he needed to be in on the sharing too. Don't worry. We already got out all the mushy, gushy words in cards and love letter, so we won't bore you with all of that here. Now, on to things we've learned!

Things We've Learned After Year One

Written from Ashley's perspective but includes Rick's thoughts.Compromise goes way past TV shows and decorating styles. Sure, we compromise on TV and decorating styles. The compromise doesn't stop there. It begins there. There's so many little things that we've had to compromise on during the last year. Dairy Queen versus Thai Tea isn't the hardest of decisions, but we've had to learn how to compromise on the big things. Compromise requires sacrifice from both people, even if it's a seemingly small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things."Two are better than one..." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. It's been a rough year for me personally. I've allowed myself to fall into the trap of several lies. I've never understood this verse better than I do now. Rick has been by my side to encourage, support and let me know those lies are false. He has sat with me time and time again and reassured me that those aren't true. They are not true of who God has made me to be or of my actions. I cannot imagine if I sat through this past season by myself. I'd be a much different person. I definitely would not be walking in God's guidance. I needed that grounding and constant reminder that I am loved, valued and worthy.It's not about romance, it's about doing life together. This may be one of the things I am most thankful for. At the end of a rough day, I don't want roses. I want someone to sit with me that I can relay all about my day - the joys and frustrations. I want someone that I can bounce off wacky ideas and serious theology. Yes, date nights and long weekends together are incredibly important. If those are the only time you're connecting though, it's not enough. You need to connect in another way. For us, that may be me sitting in the kitchen drinking a glass of wine while Rick is cooking. It's Rick doing chores so I can pour myself into photography and blogging. It's me letting him sleep until noon on Saturdays when I desperately want to play board games by 9am.Not every moment in marriage is pretty. I knew this going in but figured I'd add it to the list, because it has rung even more true than I could have imagined. You know what's not pretty? Starting our marriage sick and ending our first year of marriage sick again. Maybe that's just full circle? Either way, there's been plenty of moments that haven't been the prettiest. Some have been grosser than others. (Mucking out houses.) Some have been prettier than others. (Yay for big dinner date celebrations!)Don't compare your marriage to others. This encompasses how easy things are, how hard things are, both the glamorous and the non-glamorous moments. I think we have the idea that when you get married that things will line up just like your friends or family appears. In reality, those marriages may already be set up and have taken years to take root and grow. Take your time. Let yourselves grow and thrive naturally.Not every fight is worth having. If we fought whenever we thought we were mad, we'd be fighting a lot more. We choose to fight when we need to, when it's over something important and especially if it's something that threatens our marriage. There's no need to fight over who ate the last hummus. We've got a grocery store nearby. There will be more. We choose to fight over the tough and hard stuff that matters. This isn't always the perfect formula, but we try to strive to be better at it each day.Apologies + Forgiveness are Hard. I stink at apologies. I always have. I'm probably even worse at forgiveness, especially when it comes to myself. This one is hard to talk about. I think I'm better at both of these today than when this marriage started. Along the way, I've learned a lot about grace though. Grace for Rick. Grace for me. Grace for us as a couple.You'll learn a lot about yourself. I know I have. I've learned about things that I'm good at that I have never considered strengths of mine. You also see your own shortcomings as slightly more glaring than ever before. You have more accountability. There's someone that sees every aspect of your life. You may be able to ignore the chair full of laundry that's been there for a week already, but it's hard to ignore the one that you're accountable to when they sleep less than a foot away from you. There's a different responsibility that comes with that accountability - one wrapped in loyalty and respect. I've learned to rely on Rick as a sounding board for reason, encouragement and support. I've learned that we truly do need one another.Day 365 is easier than Day 1. Life together gets easier. It's simple. We learn each others' idiosyncrasies. As we get to understand those quirks, we understand how to do daily life with each other, and we increase our capacity to fully love each other. It's a lot easier to display my love for him now when I know him deeper and better than ever than when we left our wedding.Be intentional in everything. Intentional was my word of the year, so of course it'd find its way on here. It's so true though. It's easy to look back on this year and see the moments where we've been intentional and see the moments where we got "busy". Being intentional doesn't always look like a big moment. It's the small moments of connecting throughout the day. We're very intentional in different ways. Do things fall through the cracks? Yes, we're human. It's about picking up the very next piece when that happens and making sure it's given a little extra care. I'd venture to say that being intentional in the mundane moments leads to a lot more glorious "big" moments as y'all have the foundation laid for that. Intentionality these days is playing a board game, taking a walk and making sure we're on the same page with calendaring.Never stop telling your spouse how you feel. Not to be morbid, but death has been in the back of my mind for awhile. I want Rick to know without a doubt that if something happens to me, that I truly am deeply, madly in love with him. He is my best friend and the one I can count on for absolutely anything.

Our Favorites From Year One

Games:Skipbo // Ticket to Ride // Pandemic // Lovers in a Dangerous SpacetimeTV + Movies:Moana // Longmire // NCIS // Hocus Pocus // Great British Baking Show // Raising Hope (on repeat + still cracking up each time at the same moments) // Parks + Recreation // 30 RockPodcasts:The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey // PopcastBooks:The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell // A Fierce Love: One Woman's Courageous Journey to Save Her Marriage by Shauna Shanks (We read both of those books together and had some really great discussions based off of them.) // Rick getting back into reading in generalFood: Sushi Dates at Japaniero's // Guac + Chips // Asia Cafe // Chicken Lime Tacos // Dumar's // Zucchini // Local Table // Snow Monster // Anything I cooked for Rick // Korean Grill // WineMiscellaneous: Reading in Hammocks // Our Wedding Memories // Our New Home + Trails // Road Trips + Travels (especially ATX, St. Augustine + Disney World) // Sleepovers with Andrea + Lori // Waco trips to visit Rick's Family // Dinners with my Mom + Lori // General exploring // Pokemon at Oyster Creek Park // Breakfast with the Quiochos // Candles I totally feel like a new mom right now with those trendy boards that say all the stats about your one month old. On that note, we are not pregnant. I am a photographer that created a Pinterest maternity board the other day for a client session. (I've gotten several texts, so hopefully, that'll clear it up for you. I get it. I have a bit of a tummy. I'm on a new medicine for my Chrons Disease that is causing weight gain.)[gallery size="full" type="slideshow" ids="3740,3691,3692,3693,3694,3695,3697,3698,3699,3700,3701,3702,3703,3704,3705,3706,3707,3708,3709,3710,3711,3712,3713,3714,3715,3716,3717,3718,3719,3720,3721,3722,3723,3724,3725,3726,3727,3728,3729,3730,3731,3732,3733,3734,3735,3736,3737,3738,3739,3741,3742,3743,3744,3745,3746,3747,3748,3749,3750,3751,3752,3753,3754,3755,3756,3757,3758,3759,3760,3761,3762,3764,3790,3765,3766,3767,3768,3769,3770,3771,3772,3773,3774,3775,3776,3777,3778,3779,3780,3781,3782,3783,3784,3785,3786,3787,3788,3789"]