Married Man

I feel like I've been married forever.  Even when I think back to my single days, I do so from the perspective of a married man.  Being married is such an integral part of who I am that I cannot separate it from the rest of my psyche.  To be honest, I don't want to.  I love my wife and I love being married.  For me, it feels like my natural state - the way I should be.  I'm sure anything else would leave me feeling incomplete.  I feel the same way about being a father.  It's just who I am.

Marriage is a pretty wild concept when you think about it.  Before I got married, the longest commitment I had ever entered into was a five year car loan.  Not quite the same as 'til death do us part'.  Throw in how much people change over time and you wonder how anyone stays together.  But, I have to say that I have not found it difficult at all.  My wife and I have both changed and grown over the years but I think it has only made the bond stronger.  Together, we've felt great joy and great pain with each experience shaping and characterizing our life together.  It is uniquely ours.  No one understands me as she does.  No one else can.

So, I feel like I've been married forever but I know that isn't really true.  However, as of today, it has been 18 years.