FAQs: "So, How's Married Life?"

Getting married has arguably been the most significant and newsworthy event in my life recently. Because of this, the question I most frequently get asked by friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances when we're shooting the shit and getting caught up is, "So, how's married life?" usually followed up by, "Is it any different than your life before?"

Well, after almost six months of marriage and a careful compare/contrast analysis of our relationship before and after the wedding, my answer is, "Being married is different, and I love it!"

Of course, this may not be the case for all the recently, happily married folks, but I feel like our relationship has become more compassionate and more caring. We're sweeter to each other, perhaps because we made a promise to ourselves (in the eyes of the almighty law) to spend the rest of our lives together and being assholes at this point would most likely make for a very miserable marriage. I think we are also sweeter to each other because now that we're married, our relationship is way more relaxed.

I'm more independent, less insecure, and Brian's more communicative and less distant. Most of our arguments pre-marriage were based on my belief that Bri didn't want to spend enough time with me, but now that I know for sure he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, I'm free from that insecurity. Which means I'm free to spend more time with friends when Bri's not in tow. I'm free to spend a weekend in the valley catching up with my parents. I'm free to pursue my own passions and hobbies and then share all of my separate experiences with Brian and vice versa - enriching our lives together by having lives of our own.

I think at this point, especially after planning a wedding together (which was absolutely and unexpectedly one of the most challenging things we've been through as a couple), we've really grown to appreciate and even try to embody the qualities we love about one another. I really am in awe of Brian's intelligence, ingenuity and can-do-anything attitude, and those qualities in him are endlessly attractive and endlessly intriguing to me.

So, now that we're almost half a year into our marriage, I can wholeheartedly say that I have never been happier in our relationship than now, and I only hope the sentiment stays with both of us in good times and in bad for as long as we both shall live.