Life Before Marriage

This was a guest post a few weeks ago on another gal's blog. Figured I'd share it with ya'll today... Enjoy!

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Hi lovely readers of Leelee's blog! It's such an honor to be visiting here today and sharing a little bit about my comedic, lovely, and wonderful marriage with my best friend. I know everybody says their spouse is their best friend, but ya'll, mine really is. True to being a typical blogger, I've decided to share more about us through question format #bloggerprobz #listitout:

Tell us a little about your love story.
Well I have to say, ours is my favorite. And not so movie glamorous but it's still my favorite.  Hunter and I knew of each other through friends and my brother. I knew he was sweet, tall, southern, and younger than me (shout out to the fellow cougars). He tried so sweetly to take me out a couple of times but I resisted because I truly believed he was too dang sweet to not have a woman. And I was just not going to be that "other woman." I finally relinquished and agreed to a movie. Boy oh boy, I fell head over heels for that man. We saw the movie and then spent the rest of the night talking and getting to know each other. I was sorely mistaken - he didn't have a woman. And I planned on swooping in. Ha!

 We dated for almost 3 years before marrying in October 2014. It was everything we wanted and more. Beautiful weather, lovely tobacco barn, and each other. We've had our fair share of ups and downs throughout our relationship, but I can't help but fall more and more in love with him each day. God truly knew what he was doing when He lumped us together.

How did you know your man was THE ONE?
Ya'll are going to laugh but I had a "requirement" list of what I expected in a man. I had been through fire and back with a previous bad relationship so I knew I wouldn't allow myself to settle for that mess again. Thus, I made a list. He surpassed every single one of my ridiculous requirements with flying colors. Truth be told, I knew he was the one when I saw how much he loved the Lord. That man loves God more than he loves me... And that's perfect.

What are some of your favorite dates that the two of you have been on?
Oh my... Chick-fil-A dates? Ha! In all seriousness, we love trying new things whether it be restaurants, locations, etc. Whenever we find a new place we love, we add it to our list of places to come back to. We live close to the coast (roughly 2 hours away) so I would have to say our day-trips to the beach really top the list for me.

What advice to you have for couples who are dating but seriously considering marriage?
Laugh. Laugh at everything. Life is way too short to be serious all the time. I had a sweet friend once tell me, "Your marriage is like one big comedy show! Ya'll are just so funny and know how to have fun." I loved that she saw that and like I told her, "Laugh at the little things. Giggle through the big things. But more importantly, enjoy each other and have fun." Hunter easily keeps me laughing daily, and I to him. We do have our serious moments, but boy do we love a good laugh.

What would you tell ladies who are waiting for a ring?  Especially, how would you address the range of emotions?
Stop waiting. Seriously. It'll eat you alive, waiting, hoping, wanting. Rather live in the moment and enjoy your time together right then and there. I feel like our society is always trying to get to the next best thing, and we forget to focus on the best thing right now. Don't get caught up in that. Plus, it'll scare the poor guy away!

What was THE WORST part of waiting?  How did you get past it?
For me, it was the unknown. I'm a natural planner - I like to know the when's, where's, how's, why's.  Thank goodness I married a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of man; he's truly helped me see the beauty in winging things. As far as how I got past that? Prayer. I focused intently on God and His plan for me. It's easy to want MY PLAN, but His plans are so much greater than I could ever imagine.

Anything else you want to share?
Put God in the center of your marriage. I truly cannot imagine our marriage without Him because we are tried and true sinful human beings. Without our focus being on Him, things can get skewy and messed up. So keep HIM fully in the center of your marriage. It makes those hard days just that much easier.