Young, Wild, and Married

I got married 5 days after I turned 20 years old. Because of that I got a lot of "Wow you are SO young" "Are you sure you're ready!?" "You already are getting tied down THIS young!?" A lot of the comments I got were pretty negative or doubtful. And I know that some may look down on young marriages, but honestly, I don't get it. I found my person that I want to spend the rest of my life with... without having to search for very long.  I didn't get my heart broken a bunch, I didn't sleep around, I didn't have a ton of failed relationships. It's not a negative thing, it's a blessing. A big blessing. Not only did it save me a lot of heartache spending many years to find the one... but it also means that I get more time with my spouse (God willing). Do I regret getting married young? Not one bit. I am so incredibly in love with my husband and best friend.

Marriage has honestly been the best thing to happen to me. While Jake and I have a lot of similarities, we are also pretty different in some aspects. It's these differences that make life interesting. Before being with him, I think I lacked every possible ounce of compassion where he had plenty of it. He was patient, I wasn't. He was kinder with his words… I wasn't. But never once did he look down on me for that, or love me less because of it. Instead, he used his compassion, patience, and kind words to help me. We grew together, and that is a beautiful thing. I have been blessed to see many wonderful marriages in my life, and I always prayed that one day… someone, somewhere, would be able to look at my marriage and think the exact same thing. And I truly believe that that will happen.

At the moment, Jake and I are simply a family of two. Our own little Williams family. One day, not anytime soon, but some day… we will expand our family. Until then, Jake and I are working to create that strong foundation for them. It is our job as husband and wife to love and live deeply. To set our family rules and beliefs into place now rather than later. To work hard and play hard. We are only four months into creating our family's foundation… and by golly I think we are doing a pretty damn good job.

So to all the "haters" who questioned, doubted, and thought we were stupid… you were wrong. I'm not in this to "prove anyone wrong" because ultimately that isn't my goal nor my intentions. My goal is to have the best marriage possible with my absolute best friend. And while doing that, sharing my revelations, recipes, DIY projects, thoughts, and anything I feel like on our blog. And maybe that one person… somewhere… someday… will stumble along our blog and be inspired by our marriage and our love.
-HW

New Changes

Sitting here in this cozy little apartment, still with wedding gifts scattered around, curled up on the couch with my bride, catching up on The Following, and faintly, I hear drops. It's an unfamiliar sound, for sure, especially in this part of California. Bakersfield hardly, if ever, gets rain. But tonight, I mute the TV, and just listen. The drops start to increase. Slow at first, but faster and louder as they hit the concrete and small bushes just outside my door. Hailey's curled up and not paying attention to anything but the psycho-horror show we both love, so I stand and step outside for a moment.

That smell. It's not one I grew up with in the country. It's new. Warm, wet asphalt. Soaking up as much water as the dirt that once surrounded me as a kid. It's harder to breath in, but it smells great. Somehow, oddly refreshing. The alarm on my phone goes off, so instead of stepping inside, I take a quick walk to the small building in our apartment complex that houses the washers and dryers. A few minutes still left on the cycle, so I wait it out, still listening to the rain outside and the humming of the old dryers drying out our clothes.

These things are still new to me. Rain on the asphalt. Laundromats. And all of it now, is because of a new life I'm living with my wife. It's only been just over a week, but we're starting to acclimate to living together, and tonight with the rain in a dry county such as this, it's a good promise to me that new things are good, and can be a wonderful change of pace in life.

Now, the clothes are dry, and it's time to walk back through the rain and back to my wife. Back to the new changes.