Maybe my favorite class for my Masters was in the Law School: “Marriage, Culture, and the Imagination.” My final paper argued something regarding the creation of marriage as a means for society to have some control over how we conceive and raise children. Needless to say, I came away from the class with very conflicted feelings about the idea of marriage.
I still don’t have a true understanding of the institution; I doubt I ever will. I never felt as though I chose to “get married”; I felt like I chose to be married to John–if that makes sense. It felt right and good. I wish that after three years I would have something a little more weighty to say, but the concept of marriage is still ethereal to me.
What I can say is that I love my husband, I love my marriage, truly, a little more each day. Although we lived together beforehand, and had already loved each other through sickness, struggle, and massive amounts of debt, being married changed our relationship. It’s a slip of paper, a written and verbal agreement in front of our family and friends, a recognition by the state of Virginia…a promise that we are partners, family to each other before any and all others. And it makes a difference.
John, happy three years! I have loved every minute.
Photos by the overwhelmingly talented and fabulously hilarious Julie Napear, taken during our engagement, at our wedding, and at the recent wedding of close friends/family.
