One more night

Well, here we are in our last evening living in Taiwan. We've been here for 6 weeks and we haven't accomplished much. I guess if we've accomplished anything, it's been living together. This was Andy's and my first apartment together. We had fun finding the place (even though we have to walk up and down 5 floors every day to get to it), we had fun decorating it, we had fun cooking in it, cleaning it, hanging out in it, and making it ours. We have survived our first 6 weeks of living alone together. It wasn't all easy, we definitely have different opinions about things, but we made it. I think we now have a better idea of what marriage truly is. We also know each other much better. I thought that after growing up together, going to college together, living in a group house together, and traveling together, I knew everything about Andy...but I am learning that there is always more. More to learn, more to discover, more to love.

I have to admit that this has been a trying time for us. We thought it would be easy to quit our lives in the states, get married, pick up and start a new life in another country. Thing is...it's not as easy as we thought it would be. We thought it would be one grand adventure where everything would go perfectly and we'd be happy. It didn't turn out that way though, and we've had to deal with the ups and downs together. Each of us had been disappointed and frustrated in our own ways. Through frustration, sadness, sickness, tears, and harsh words, we are learning about marriage and life. It is work, that's for sure. But it's work that we want to do because we are invested in each other. This is all a part of learning for us.

Even though we feel like moving here was a failure, it was also a good thing. It has sort of brought us back down to earth in realizing that just because we are young and in love, it does not mean that we're invincible. We are learning how to comfort and take care of each other. How to take defeat together, pick ourselves up and keep going. We are learning that in times of frustration we can be there for each other and make things better by doing something as simple as making no-bake cookies together. So even though this chapter of our lives didn't work out, it doesn't mean that there aren't other great things to come for us. We don't know what the future holds, but I think if we can get past this defeat, then we'll be ok.

So here we are in our last evening. We went out to our favorite local restaurant and ordered our favorite dishes. It was nice to realize that we had become 'regulars' at the place and the cook was excited to see us. We will miss him and his food. It was a good night, and a good day. We spent the day blasting our music while we packed and cleaned the place. Occasionally we broke out in dancing or singing off tune. We argued about what should get packed in what bag, what to leave behind, and how to clean things. It was all in good fun. We can now laugh at each other when we don't disagree instead of getting frustrated. It has been good, it has been a learning process, and now we are leaving. May more good things come!