I got married before I knew the meaning of marriage. One thing was for sure , looking at women around me talking about marriages and seeing in dramas, I had come to an assumption that if I'm good with everyone, everyone will be good to me. I thought everyone is essentially good at heart. I guess I had gotten high on Anne Franks diary way too much! As I got into a two year nikah before the final marriage, God gave me a chance to understand my spouse better and give me some time to understand the undertaking I had signed up for before comprehending it. But no matter how much you get to know someone or not, marriage is a gamble and you will have to roll the dice to find out. Living in the USA, people often say I was living with so and so for such a long time and yet they turned out something negative after marriage. That means it doesn't matter, love or arranged, marriage will test you and your patience. Expectations are lethal. The more you will expect the harder your fall will be. And realistically every marriage has its lows and highs. I never had the high highs but yes good moments. For which I think I'm very grateful and many at times undeserving. When the lows hit you , you have to try to remember the good times and the qualities of your spouse. I have this attitude towards my marriage that
every day is a new day and I am going to give it my very best! And of course , amnesia is the secret ingredient to a happy marriage! If you remember and hold on to everything that went wrong in the marriage you will never be happy. You have to forget ! If anything you need your partner when your parents will pass away, when your siblings will be too busy with their lives, your children are too self absorbed or your friends will not be around for you. I dreamt of being an Amazonian woman who is independent and doesn't need a male support as a teenager but now after many years of marriage I will tell you that God made marriage for very profound reasons, indeed.
That was the spouse thing, now for the in laws or as someone said "out laws" , Noah Webster ( the Webster dictionary founder) once said, " love Thy neighbor but don't pull down the fence!"
Hope this helps some of you out there that are still weaving through dreams of marriage . Love you all!
Edited by Iceblue - 7 years ago