I’m a daydreamer and a fairytale lover so being as such, I often reference the “happily ever after” period of time.  You know, that magical moment when your go from the damsel in distress hopelessly looking for Mr. Right, to Mrs. Right, complete with a white gown fit for a queen and you ride off together into the sunset to forever live in a blissful “happily ever after” state.

The reality is we’re all looking for our knight in shining armor.  We are given this illusion that if we just marry a wonder man then we can be forever happy.  And while there is some truth to this, we also might find ourselves a bit disenchanted with him over time.

My Prince Charming and I got into a little quarrel yesterday morning.  Or maybe it was more of a big quarrel.  At any rate, the fact of the matter is, everything isn’t going to be just peachy because you took vows to love each other forever.  I have mentioned before that people have told me the first year of marriage is the hardest.  My mother will tell you the first seven years are the hardest (and she has been married for thirty-eight years now).  What I can definitely tell you is that we’ve had arguments and differences in all three years that we’ve been married.

So yesterday morning we were not speaking much as we drove to church.  But I was determined that we were still going.  My mother also used to say that arguing on Sunday mornings was the way of the Devil trying to get you to skip church.  I think there’s some truth there, as there just seems to be lots of extra stress rushing around on Sundays.

I sat through the service feeling a little down, thinking about how this isn’t exactly the married life that I had envisioned.  When suddenly it occurred to me, happily ever after starts when YOU want it too!  YOU have to create that life that you dreamed of.  No one is going to just hand it over to you.  And while there might be some curves and bumps along the way, it’s a journey that you can choose to travel onward together.

As you think about that white horse carrying you off into the sunset, remember that just because you lost site of the horse on the horizon, doesn’t mean it stopped walking.  Journey on that horse together and maybe that will be better than the destination.

PS – We made up 🙂  And that picture up there?  That’s one of my first ever brides from two summers ago, captured by Kelly Lynne Photography… it’s amazing how time flies!