One year ago today, I married my husband. I refuse to use the trite saying that I married my "best friend" because, although we do everything together and tell each other everything, I simply don't believe your husband can be your true best friend.
Best friends do not purposely push each your buttons to get a rise out of you because they think it's cute when you're angry. Best friends will always (albeit, sometimes grudgingly) go shopping with you. Best friends KNOW what to get you for any gift-giving occasion. Best friends will be there for you when your husband just sometimes falls short of being a good husband.
This does not mean I appreciate my husband any less than my best friend.
This past year has been one of the hardest of my life. One week after returning from our honeymoon, I was laid off. There we were, a newly married couple, with a married couple's bills and stresses, trying to make it work on ONE barely-above-minimum-wage salary. At first, it didn't seem like it would be a problem. I have a college degree, I have an amazing resume for someone my age, I have excellent recommendations from some prominent people, I'm young and up-to-date on technology. Surely, it wasn't going to be long before I had another job.
As job rejection after job rejection flowed in, I tried to keep an upbeat attitude - I was never at a loss for interviews, so I could always convince myself that the next interview would lead somewhere. Eleven months went by before I finally had a full-time job. Eleven.
The one person who I didn't feel ashamed to cry in front of after each rejection letter? My husband. Sure I could've gone to my best friend, or even my mother-in-law, with my stress and feelings of worthlessness, but I didn't. I went to the one person who I knew felt every rejection as keenly as I did. My husband.
This is another reason my husband will never be my best friend. You can show your best friend an upbeat attitude when you feel nothing but worthless, and you may not hide it completely, but they know not to talk about it. You can't hide anything from someone who truly shares a life with you. And if your significant other is anything like mine, they won't let it go until you tell them everything.
My husband's support in all this is what kept me going, kept me applying for jobs until I landed one, and one that is absolutely perfect for me in every way. And for that, there are no words of gratitude I can give.
One year ago today, I married my husband. And that has made all the difference in my life.
