Wedding Blog

On this day, one year ago, Mr. Magnolia and I said, “I do,” in front of 185 of our closest friends and family.

Tonight, we will celebrate with just our pup, Knowshon, and the bottle of Dom Perignon that Mr. Mags’ aunt gave us as a wedding gift. What a year it has been.

It’s inevitable that as you prepare to get married and begin your wedded life, you’ll hear people say that the first year of marriage is the most difficult. In our case, I’m going to have to agree wholeheartedly, but not for the reasons you might think.

I think in a lot of instances, a relationship can go through a tremendous amount of strain in the first year due to financial issues, family problems, and just general disagreements about how you both move forward with your everyday lives. Even if a couple lives together before tying the knot, it seems to me that making the relationship legal can add a level of complexity that puts you in a pressure cooker. For me personally, it was quite an adjustment to shift my thinking from “me” to “we” – it’s something that I continue to work on every day, because I can think of nothing that I want more than to ensure that my relationship with Mr. Mags lasts forever.

That’s not what I wanted to write about, though. Mr. Mags and I have had quite a first year, but I truly think that our relationship has been the easiest part. Life is going to continue to throw us curve balls, but given what we’ve tackled this year alone, I know that we’ll be able to get through it all together.

We’ve dealt with some serious health problems in our immediate families, particularly involving an issue this past spring with Mr. Mags’ dad, and then my mom’s diagnosis of breast cancer this summer.

Thankfully, they’re both doing very well. My mom had a lumpectomy in August, and she completed seven weeks of radiation right before Thanksgiving. She’s now cancer-free!

At the end of September, I lost my job. It was unexpected and fairly upsetting, but I was hopeful that I’d find something even better. As of today, I’m still job hunting. I do have a few prospects – I have a lot of contacts in my field, and I’ve been interviewing regularly, but so far nothing has stuck.

Regardless, we have had fun! We spent a week this summer at the beach…

We cheered our beloved Georgia Bulldogs to another ten-win season…

… and we spoiled Knowshon rotten at every opportunity.

Finally, we sent 2008 out in style, happy to see a crazy year go and looking forward to the wonderful things that 2009 would bring…

…but whatever it does bring, we’ll face it together. Yes, it was a tough year, but I am thankful every day for the amazing man that I married. Mr. Mags, I love you. Happy Anniversary.