It is the best day of your life. The day two lives come together as one. Hearts filled with overwhelming joy, anticipation and excitement for an unknown journey ahead.
This is the day of your wedding. When fairy tale dreams come true and you finally know what it feels like to walk down the aisle, all eyes on you. Dancing the night away with your husband… Happily ever after.
But what happens then? What happens after the “I do’s”? When the confetti lies scattered over the floor? When the wedding cake has huge gaps in it and when the DJ plays the last song… What then?
I got married almost three months ago and it was indeed the best day of my life (so far) and I absolutely love and adore my husband. But do you also get the idea that sometimes the wedding is the highlight of the couple’s life and then it all kind of descends from there… Well, this was my biggest concern when I started thinking about marriage and what it is going to be like.
I would find myself sitting and thinking… What keeps you going, besides the love you have for each other? What will we do when we have bad days and when I’m not at my best? Will my husband still want to be with me?
Then I realised that sometimes we underestimate love, because love in its purest form will overcome the bad days, the bad situations and the days you and your partner are not that “loveable”.
This is the love that carries you through years of marriage, where you get to celebrate your 35th wedding anniversary, just like my parents did this month. Wow, what an amazing milestone. Growing up, my parents had their ups and downs like any other marriage, but when I look at the patience, love, stolen kisses and laughter I witnessed through all the years, I feel honoured and motivated.
I realised that love is an umbrella term for all the other characteristics you should have when you get married. And believe me when I say, you don’t get a bag of it once you get married. You work for it, you develop it and you earn it.
I now look at my wedding day as the best day of my life so far, but not the last “best” day. My wedding day was the beginning of more love to come.
