Two years to the day I was walking down the aisle, meeting my husband at the alter, cutting our cake hand in hand, and dancing our first dance. In other words, two years ago today I was a bride marrying my groom, the man of my dreams, and embarking on a whole new, unknown journey.

I can’t believe two years have already gone by. It feels like just yesterday we were that young, newly married couple (in my eyes, we still are, sort of). This journey called marriage still seems very much unknown even after two years (I think I’ll be saying that 10 years from now, too), but we’ve covered a lot of ground in our couple short years of marriage, discovered and learned new things about each other along the way, and are excited to see what journey awaits us in our upcoming years ahead.

Last year I wrote about our story on how we met (I just reread it and it made me smile all over again to relive the exciting memories that you have when you first meet your future spouse. Definitely a high in my life!) and the things I’ve learned during our first year of marriage (also just reread that post and, yep, everything still applies today :)).

Things that I’ve learned from Year 1 and Year 2 tend to start to blur together…I mean, did I learn about Philip’s love for country music in our first year or second? But there are some things I know we’ve gotten better with in our second year of marriage. While I’m certainly no expert or feel like I’ve learned it all within 2 short years (does that ever really happen?), I thought I’d add a little bit more to my lessons learned from Year 1.

Things I’ve Learned after Two Years of Marriage:

• Ask questions to stay connected. How can you possibly have questions about somebody you know almost better than yourself, you ask? Philip and I have found ways to stay connected by asking random, seemingly inconsequential, questions — with this book to help (we’re not that good). It keeps conversation flowing on a daily basis…and I’m always learning something new.
• You hurt when the other person hurts. I’ve been out of commission lately for all things running and biking…It hurts, but I think it hurts Philip just as much to see me in pain. Now that’s love.
• I use “we” more than “I” when talking. Just take a look at some of my posts. Guilty.
• Appreciate one another. It’s easy for me to forget how blessed I am to have the husband that I do, but then I see another couple in Target (not that I’m comparing or anything…) and realize how patient and wonderful Philip is to let me roam around Target, debate about a frame for 20 minutes, and not complain one bit.
• Make traditions together. The first year is hard to really know if you’re making traditions, but if you do the same thing again in your second year…well, you have yourself a tradition in the making! Sushi night on Christmas Eve and going to an outdoor play during our anniversary week seem to be a couple that are in the making for us. Creating our own traditions makes for special memories.
• Stress comes out on the one you love the most. Buying a house? Stressful. Working while trying to still find time to clean and fix said new house? Stressful. Having too much on our plates? Stressful. Philip can attest to this and loves me through it all. :)
• Pursue each other everyday. Being intentional about pursuing each other, no matter how long you’ve married, isn’t something that always comes easily. But, from what I can see, a little bit of input brings about great return. I may be in my late-20s, but I still like getting surprise love notes in my lunch bag. :)
• You always have your biggest supporter with you. Support and encouragement come from all kinds of people in your life, but the one who is always by my side to push and encourage me along, in my opinion, should get the biggest supporter award.
• There should be a T in Marriage for Teamwork. You vacuum, I’ll clean the bathrooms. I make supper, you do the dishes. I decorate the interior, you manage the exterior. It may have taken us over a year, but we’ve got ourselves a good system now. We just seem to work well together and I kinda like that. :)

This second year has been even better than our first year, just on the fact alone that we know each other almost better than the other person knows himself/herself. We jive. We flow together. We just get each other on so many levels. That’s the beauty of marriage, isn’t it? We’re starting to form and share memories together rather than telling memories to one another from when we didn’t know each other. If it is as they say that each year gets better and better, with as much fun as Year 2 has been, I can’t wait to see what Year 3 has in store for us.