|
Dear Friends,
Annie and Jack here with an exciting mini-blog about this week’s blog! #ablogaboutablog #SoMeta JACK: This week, we want to talk about an exciting pivot we’re taking. As you already know, Annie and I have been publishing an original piece every week on Thursday 3pm EST. We’ve been focusing mostly on articles that highlight our life experience and examine marriage in a way that isn’t depicted in your standard marriage blog. As we always say, we’re trying to usher you into a new era of marriage conversations where we get really honest about the state of things and provide a space for the less traditional practices. As we’ve been producing new content, we’ve discovered some things about ourselves and decided to make an exciting change. I’ll let Annie take it from here to explain more.
0 Comments
Annie and I have officially been married for one year--and what a year it’s been. I can’t help but first think about what it took for us to get to this point. The good times, the bad times, and everything in between. In this first year, we've moved a total of six times, lived in three cities, and each (separately) driven across the country once. I was hired and started jobs at two different universities, Annie started her MFA program and taught English at ASU for the first time. We rode in airplanes fifteen different times, explored nine new cities and one new country (our honeymoon in Mexico). We made new friends, climbed new mountains, and performed new feats of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual strength. This year, life stretched us farther than we could have ever imagined, but we're still smiling and hungry for more.  It seems Jack and I tend to make major life decisions at the top of mountains, usually with little to no water. This time, we were on Camelback in Phoenix, doing an unexpected amount of climbing in an unexpected level of heat. We had a one large water bottle between the two of us, and drank it fast. When we got to the top of the mountain, I was bleeding from the leg and Jack was sweating out his breakfast. The view though, the view was glorious.  After months of work, and with the help of some amazingly talented friends, we now have a wedding video to show the world! We hope you enjoy reliving this day with us <3 *Want more? Sign up for our newsletter for new content, fun giveaways, and ways to connect with followers of The Millennial Marriage Movement. Scroll to the bottom of the page to join!*
Friends, Family, Perfect Strangers… Jack here. This blog post has been a long time coming, but please know that we haven’t stopped thinking about you. Married life has been wonderful so far and we currently have no plans on terminating the relationship anytime soon #squadgoals Charlotte has been an amazing town for our marriage. It’s kind of like if a big city and Durham had a baby (if you can picture that). We live pretty close to the downtown area, so we often take long walks into the city together. Annie just left for Tempe, AZ a few days ago and will be starting her MFA program at ASU soon. It is an exciting time!  But enough about us, let’s talk about you. Annie and I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank all of you for supporting this blog and celebrating our wedding with us. Whether you’re a family member who was at our wedding or a fan of the blog who we’ve never met before--please know that we love you dearly and that you matter to us.
“But think about the moment when I get on that airplane,” I said, sitting on the couch, staring at Jack, by this time a bit teary. “Won’t it just be too sad?” Then Jack laughed. “Good Lord, you’re so dramatic. We’re not dying." Recently, Jack and I have made some choices about our future. We’ve stopped thinking so much about bouquet tosses and started wrestling with what our married life is going to look like. We’ve spent a lot of late nights talking about how to weave our dreams together into one family. It’s been hard. A long-held, quietly-kept dream of mine has been to get my master’s degree (MFA) in creative writing. I’ve been boiling on the inside for time, for connection, and for new adventure. Last fall, I decided that this was my year to go for it. Jack and I, already knowing we wanted to get married, decided I would pick seven schools, and Jack would look for jobs around those seven. Since Jack works in student affairs, and I would be attending a university, we thought we’d have a fairly good chance of finding something new. And boy (or girl) were we right! #inclusivity  My Dearly Beloved Friends and Family, It's been another great year. After every birthday, I like writing a very pensive and reflective note to thank everyone in the past year for blessing me beyond measure [that's code for this blog is super long-winded]. I really take time to think about all that's happened in my life since April 12, 2015. I look at my Facebook timeline, reminisce with friends, highlight some significant life moments, and examine my personal growth. It's one of my favorite things to do every year (this year it's coming a little bit late, sorry I've been busy!) I'd love nothing more than to celebrate all that we've done together in the last 365 days. It's been a big year! I got engaged to the most fantastically beautiful human on the planet, I went places and saw things, gained new skills, and learned so much about who I am. Believe me, God has been good to me since turning 27. Now that I've turned 28, let's shake it up a little bit. I'd hate to think that I'm getting too predictable in my old age. Instead of giving you the play by play of everything I've been up to since my last birthday, I want to tell you about a story that really resonates with me upon adding another year to my life. It's a story about a time in my life that I really hold dear. In so many ways, it's shaped who I am as a person. I love telling this story more than I love telling people the story of my potato tattoo-- and that says a lot. It's a great tattoo. You should ask me about it sometime if you already haven't (just kidding, I'm sure you already have).  It’s easy to believe that your best memories are your most perfect ones. After becoming engaged, we’ve discovered that quite often, the opposite is true. Imperfections have an interesting way of leaving footprints in your memory that make a richer story. When we look back on our engagement, there were a lot of perfect things. The leaves were immaculately fall-colored, the weather was pristine, and the excitement was palpable. But who cares, right? We don’t really look back on those details. It’s the imperfections that make our story worth telling and uniquely ours. I (Jack) still remember the first time I saw Crabtree Falls on a hiking trip with friends. As we got to the top, I saw the most breath-taking view of mountains and trees that I had ever seen. My initial thought was, “This view will be incredible in the fall.” My second thought was, “This is where I’ll propose to Annie.”  |
Annie & JackLove. Marriage. Teamwork. Art. Offsetting the patriarchal footprint. These are some of the things we're thinking about. Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
Photo used under Creative Commons from free pictures of money
