Statistics Don't Mean Much To Me

So, my anniversary is coming up. My husband and I got married when we were both 20 years old and will celebrate 6 years in November. It has not been the easiest years of my life but the challenges have made me grow as a person.

My husband and I were married the first of November and found out we were expecting our first child around 5 days after we said I do. There was not a “honey moon” phase because we immediately needed to grow up. Of course I found it was much easier for a woman to do than a man.

We welcomed our son into the world in July 2007. Having a new baby and a new marriage at the same time was not in our plan, but sometimes our plans are not right anyway. So we were then 21, newly married, and with a newborn child and things were rough. I won’t go into detail because this is a public blog, but I will just say that lies can kill marriages really quick.

Both of us lied to the other and did things behind the other’s back. No one can claim they were perfect except our child. Although we continued to stay together for years after the struggle we did have a brief two week separation last year. In those two weeks I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted in life.

I wanted a husband who made me feel butterflies, and made me feel like romance novels proclaim love should “feel” like. But I had a husband who loved me, who was a good father, who was honest, loyal, and who was my best friend. It was not my husband who caused the final straw to break but me and my unrealistic ideas of what should be.

Real love is not like a romance novel or the movies. Real love is what happens in real life. The respect you have for someone, the loyalty you feel for them, and the happiness they bring into your life.

I am glad my husband and I decided to work through everything we have been through. Although obstacles will still come up I can guarantee it will NEVER be like it was before and we will work together to make it through the next ones. We will not become part of the statistic.

Statistics:

If you're a married American, your marriage is between 40 and 50 percent likely to end in divorce.

If your parents were divorced, you're at least 40 percent more likely to get divorced than if they weren't. If your parents married others after divorcing, you're 91 percent more likely to get divorced. (our parents are divorced and got re-married)