this is your LAST time...

A couple of days ago, at the school I am student teaching at, there was a high school intern talking to me while I was making copies. This is how our conversation went:
Intern: Wait, are you just engaged or are you already married?
Me: I'm already married! I got married two months ago
Intern: And how old are you? like 21?
Me: No, I'm going to be 23 in a couple of weeks
Intern: So why on earth did you get married so young? I don't want to get married till I'm like 35 or something
Me: (Laughing awkwardly, because I can't even believe this conversation is happening with a 17 year old stranger) Well, I guess the best way to explain it is, that I didn't want to live any more life without having my husband be my husband. 22 years was a long enough wait for me. Everyone's different!

As I left this conversation my head started spinning with all sorts of different answers I could've given or should've given. Don't you hate it when that happens? When your brain starts to become brilliant when you are alone in your car and there is no one for you to bestow your wisdom onto!

I would like to say that this is the first time that Judson or I have gotten the, "Why on earth are y'all rushing into this?" type of conversation. While we were engaged and getting closer and closer to marriage everyone LOVED to tell us about our last time to do this or that.
This is your LAST time to have your last name..
This is your LAST time to not live with a man..
This is your LAST time to go out and "live it up"..
This is your LAST time to be a virgin (People loved to freak me out with this one!)
This is your LAST time to live with your parents..
This is your  LAST time to not be locked down..

You get the point. I wish I could say that none of this got to me. There were times I began to panic and think "NO TAYLOR SWIFT SONG WILL EVER APPLY TO MY LIFE AGAIN!" or "how are we ever going to split up our holidays among our families?!" etc etc...

But this is what people don't tell you is that all of your FIRSTS far, far out weigh your lasts. Our first house, our first vacation, our first time to wake up in the middle of the night at the same time and laugh for hours and hours about inside jokes and memories, our first collaborative bad day, our first meal to cook together, our first holiday traditions...

We live in a culture that thrives on the negative. A nay-saying society. "Marriage is wonderful, but it's really hard." I think that is such a mindset problem. Life is hard. Let's not put all that burden on marriage. Judson and I aren't perfect people to each other all the time. We can drive each other crazy sometimes! But I refuse to let myself blame him for a bad day or expect him to read my mind and then become disappointed when he doesn't meet my expectations. A huge word that I want to staple in my marriage is APPRECIATION. Appreciate the small things. Every single night while I lay in bed, Judson holds my hand until I'm asleep. Even when he's not going to bed for a couple more hours. Why didn't anyone say to me "this is the last time you ever have to fall asleep alone" when I was engaged? Life is full of firsts and lasts in every season. I'm going to start focusing on the sweetness of the firsts instead of the sting of the lasts. God is so incredible in the way He designs our paths, y'all.