Blog #5 Preparing for Marriage

    This blog will be geared toward the younger audience because I will be talking about preparing for marriage. I say younger audience because this is my view on it and I was 19 when I got married. So this will be directed at the younger people wanting to get married. There are many things that you should do to prepare for marriage and I will talk about some of them. First, the number one thing I would say when preparing for marriage is to, if you already are not, live on your own before you get married. When I started dating my husband I was 18 and was still living with my parents. I wanted to move out and figure out life and doing things without my parents even before the thought of marriage. I just wanted to be an adult and live on my own, pay rent, buy groceries and do adult things. Then, later I got married and it was really hard for me to live somewhat on my own. I had my husband but me personally I was struggling because what I was doing when I got married I had never done on my own.

    I say this is the one of the biggest things to do before marriage because you and your spouse want to feel like they are a team and on their own. In my case I was always asking my parents what to do because I was so use to it, I never did adult things on my own to figure it out on my own. That really frustrated my husband a lot because he knew what to do, he had lived on his own for about four years prior to meeting me. Yes there are many other things you should do to prepare for marriage but for me and being so young moving out first on my own would have proven even more to my husband that I could do things on my own. That I knew how to and what to do when I was in a struggle situation. Moving out of your parents house before you get married will really help your confidence and motivation to do more and be more proactive. Looking back I wish that I had done that, because it would've been better for our marriage at the start.

    Another thing to do when preparing for marriage is to date around a lot. When I say date around a lot that means go on dozens and dozens of dates before you settle down with one person. I knew that I wanted to marry my husband because I went on so many dates that I lost count. I got to know so many guys and see what I wanted in a man and who I wanted to marry. You always hear the term find a guy you want to marry that is like your dad, or something along those lines. Don't remember the exact phrase. Anyways that is what I did, I like how my dad treats my mom and the things he does for her. So that is how I knew what I wanted in my future husband. Every date I went on I would see if he would do the things that I wanted my husband to do for me. One little thing was, he would always open my car door for me. My dad always opened my mom's car door and would make sure she got in the car fine, yes we can do that on our own. I just saw my dad do that so much that is what I wanted my future husband to do for me. It's the little kind, generous things that count.

    This list of things to do to preparing for marriage can go on and on. These were just some things that I wish I did better and what I did when preparing for marriage. When thinking about marriage talk to someone and ask what you can do to prepare more and better for yourself and your future spouse. But the most important thing for preparing for marriage is to make sure you really love the person you are going to marry and make sure you want to spend the rest of your life with them.