Jarrett: Allow Me To Introduce Myself

I debated a lot of different concepts for my inaugural post, but in the end thought it'd be best to tell a little about myself and my thoughts for this blog.

I'm Jarrett, 24 years old and married to the best woman I ever could have asked for. We got married May of 2009 and in that time have had tons of experiences that opened my eyes to the facts of life and marriage. It's been my experience that as much as you think you know each other, saying "I do" has a way of bringing changes to the relationship that neither of you expected. I hear a lot of people say, "Oh, it's just a piece of paper." TRUST ME, whether purposely or subconsciously, that "piece of paper" makes things a little more real. If nothing else, your expectations increase.

Anyway, I've learned more about relationships with women in this year and a half or so of marriage than I ever would have imagined. Single guys who play the field talk about having game, but they're playing in the minors. This marriage stuff is a whole new ballgame. I tell friends my age not to get married unless you really mean it, because while having the privilege to call my love my wife has made my life better in so many ways--it's a whole lot of work. Simply put, emotional or weak guys aren't built for this.

We're all born with gifts, and I'd like to think one of mine is the ability to understand human nature in a relatable way. I've had many conversations with family and friends, sometimes over drinks, where I'll spout off a philosophy on something in life that's so understandable yet so beautifully deep that it blows their brains to bits. I'll go off on one of my long-winded epiphanies and whoever I'm hanging out with will hit me with one of these types of responses:

"Damn! That's some real shit! Ahhhh, I need another drink."

I don't say all of this to crown myself the black Aristotle, because for one, that's far from the truth. I'm just a regular guy that thinks a lot, maybe too much sometimes. Second, when it comes to relationships, marriage in particular, you have a lot of so-called experts waxing philosophical about marriage in a way that is too PC, too lovey dovey or just not very realistic. I don't want to be one of those guys.

But I digress. In its simplest terms, this is a blog by me and my wife, Maria, about marriage, through the eyes of a 20-something married couple far away from home for the first time and making our way as we see fit. We'll share some advice, seek some comments, tell some stories, tell some jokes and whatever else we feel like in regards to this beautiful game we call marriage.

We've had some rocky times, from dealing with the financial setback (i.e., being broke) to dealing with crisis, including an unexpected (i.e. accidental) pregnancy that changed our lives, only to have our hearts broken when we lost the baby. We're in a better place right now and have dreams the size of the Grand Canyon, so you'll live that journey with us as we celebrate things we've mastered and continuously learn the ropes of marriage and life in general.

I'll share things from a man's perspective, Maria will share from a woman's, and we'll crisscross pretty frequently as we continue to share. I write for a living and she doesn't, so hopefully she'll be able to keep up with the content. I'll give her a little nudge, but I'm sure that once she starts blogging she'll fall in love with it.

Sit back, relax. Leave a comment, share some advice. Hopefully we can figure this thing out together with some laughs in between.