Transitions in marriage

 Marriage is something that is considered very sacred in my family. It is an eternal promise to your significant other. A promise that you will stay by their side through thick and thin. 

I know that the view of marriage has changed over the years. Marriage is no longer viewed as a sacred practice. People do not think that marriage is necessary in relationships. Cohabitation occurs before the couple gets married. 

But I can understand the fear of the commitment. There is a lot of changes that come with marriage. Your daily routines may change, your traditions may change, and your family life may change.

Your routines may change because there may be some things that your partner would need you to alter. You may need to find out better habits, such as compromising on room temperatures, or what side of the bed you sleep on, or times you two wake up. There is a lot you need to agree on as a married couple. There may be fights but you must figure out how to work through the struggles.  

Changes in traditions could be something that may occur as well. These could change because of a multitude of things. You may not be able to afford the attributes to the tradition or you may have to merge traditions with your partner's traditions, to name a few. 

Family life will probably be the aspect that changes the most after a marriage. Either of you may not see your family as often as you may be used to. Moving to a new place will also make it more difficult. For example, after my mom married my dad, she moved out of her home in California. They both moved to Denver in order for my dad to finish his schooling and get his degree in dentistry. This move had kept my mom from seeing her parents for a long period of time. My parents could not afford to fly to California to see her family so they grew slightly distant. They still called but it was harder to do so than today. My dad's family lived in Utah which was only an 8 hour drive from where they had lived at the time. This allowed them to visit his family much more than they could visit hers. 

Along with that, I have grown closer to my dad's side of the family than my mom's. Most of his family lives in Utah, close to their parent's home. We are able to see each other more than any one in my mom's family. Her family is all spread out. Some live in Arizona, some live in Idaho, and some live in Wyoming. They are spread throughout the states. My mom's parents have since moved to Colorado, only a 30 minute drive from our home. We have since then grown closer to the two of them. We are still quite distant from the rest of her family but as technology has improved, we have been able to call them on a regular basis.

Families will merge along with marriage. That could be either good or bad. My family has not had a lot of interaction with the other side of the family but when they have, they seemed to get along. There is definitely a bit of hesitation and awkwardness but there has never been conflict. This is not always the case in all families. My best friend does not have a great family life. Her mom and dad are divorced and my friend has little to no contact with her dad's side of the family. This happens more often than not when families split.