Maw-iage is what brings us together today.

Being engaged has all sorts of adventurous situations where in to learn from. This semester Ryan and I are taking a class from the Family and Home Education Department appropriately titled, "Marriage". Here at good ol' "BYU-I do" almost all of us take a religion course titled, "Preparing for Eternal Marriage", which Ryan and I have both taken before; however, the marriage class we are in this semester focuses more on marriage itself. How do you strengthen your marriage? Is marriage really important? How to communicate in marriage. Our professor is also a counselor so it is kind of like a little group counseling session on marriage.
I've watched those around me who are married. As the youngest in my family, I am the last one to be married. As much as I love my dad and stepmom, I wouldn't consider them to have a model marriage. But, I would say that through trials and probably many situations where one or both could have thrown in the towel, they have been married for over 20 years now. They've stuck with it. That is commendable in and of itself. It has shown me the reality of marriage. Since Ryan and I both come from divorced parents (Ryan's parents divorced when he was two, mine when I was four) I think both of us have had our major setbacks about marriage in and of itself. I know for myself, I have always been scared of divorce. I am scared of losing my spouse before we are old and ready to die. I was scared to trust someone that much. I was worried that no one would ever love me the way I felt I needed and wanted to be loved.
We all know the marriage statistics. Half of all first marriages end in divorce. HALF. One out of every TWO. It is comforting to know that marriages performed in the LDS temples are about 10% lower than that, but the number is still high. So why are we still getting married so much and for what reasons? Why is divorce so prevalent nowadays, when, in the 1960's the divorce rate was significantly lower?
As I think about my relationship with Ryan, I'm so grateful for the engagement period. We get to practice some aspects of marriage (mainly the idea of being solely being committed to each other and no one else) along with making decisions together and really settling in to the idea of being together always. I also appreciate our old fashioned values when it comes to honoring a chaste and virtuous life together. In a world like today's, that is definitely a difficult task, but I feel like it makes our love and appreciation for each other stronger. I know that our marriage will have hard days and hard times, but I'm so grateful I've found someone who loves me the way I need to be loved and who is committed to me. We are both so imperfect yet we are both so perfect for each other. I wish I knew where life is taking us, but only time will tell.

Hooray for marriage! :)

(Oh, and engagement photos will be soon!!!)