Marriage is Hard....

Or so they say.
I heard it again and again...
and again
before we got married.

And so I've been waiting for it to get challenging and difficult.
I've been waiting for it to become "work." As I've so often heard it described.
I've waited for it to become a challenge to enjoy Zach's company.
I've been waiting to want to be alone and single some days.

But guess what?
It hasn't happened.

Do I think my marriage is better than anyone else's?
No. I actually do not.
At least not most marriages. Some, yes. I will admit.

Now don't get me wrong.
I will not lie and say we don't fight or argue or that I haven't wanted to smack my husband upside the head.
Oh have we ever fought!
But I could say the exact same for my mom, brother, dad, friends, co-workers, ward members, the loan officer at Cap Ed.
Anyone you have a relationship with, you will fight or argue with. True story!

I find it sad that so much negativity surrounds marriage. Especially when there's a newly engaged couple around.
I don't recall walking out the front door to meet the little neighbor girl across the street when I was little to hear my mom stop me and say, "Rufie, you just need to know friendship is hard."

I don't recall my mom telling me when my brother was born, "I know you're really excited , but I just want you to know that being a sister is really hard. It's a lot of work."

But if I want to be a good sister, it is sometimes something I need to put effort into. But I wouldn't call it work or hard.

But we do have to put effort into anything we want to be good at. I want to be a good wife?
Why?
Because Zach is good to me.
He makes me happier than I've ever been.
And because our marriage is fun and has surpasses all that I ever expected or even wanted.
I don't want that to change.
I only want things to get better.
That means that I have to get better.
I have to continue to improve myself daily.
And if I do that, I'm a better wife.
And we're happy.

So marriage isn't hard...it's a relationship.
A relationship that I love and feel blessed by every single day.

So maybe it's hard and maybe it's work.
But I don't see it that way.