"Marry your best friend."
I am so blessed to have found my best friend at such a young age (13 to be exact...). Thomas and I have really watched each other grow up from being teenagers with attitudes to [young] adults spreading their wings for the first time and even starting a family. When I think of what defines a best friend... I think of someone who will always be 100% honest with me (even when it may hurt). Someone who knows me maybe just a little bit too well. Someone who is able to know how I'm feeling and even what I'm thinking without me saying a single word. I think of someone who I can have some pretty bad fights with... But at the end of the day there are no hard feelings, just lessons learned.
I don't know how I would've been able to build a foundation for our marriage without truly being Thomas' friend first. The level of trust that we have and how well we know each other truly is the result of a deep friendship that has been growing over the span of more than (...holy crap) a decade.
"A baby changes everything."
And any other cliches about how much becoming a parent changes your life.
Thomas kept telling me that once we had a baby the way I look at the world would be totally different. And I knew he was right... And I would agree with him... But I don't think that either of us truly knew the extent to which our babies would change our lives. To be honest, when I was growing up I never thought I would want to live on the mainland. I knew I wanted to travel, but I never really considered actually raising my family on the mainland. After losing our jobs last year and becoming parents, Thomas and I really started to analyze the opportunities around us differently. We also started to really take a look at what kind of future we wanted for our family. That's when we made the decision to give life on the continental U.S. a shot. We're only young once (haha... another cliche I should probably add to my list)... And what everyone tells us is totally, 100% right: I don't want to be struggling later on in life when I should be carefree... But I don't want to be unhappy either. I would much rather struggle now while pursuing what truly makes us happy. Even possibly falling a few times while trying to reach for our dreams... But as long as we learn our lesson and get back up... We're going to keep reaching to better our lives. Because that's what happens when you have a baby... They motivate you to be the best and provide the best that you can.
"Nothing worth having comes easy."
Nothing that I thank God for every night came easily to me. They all came with their own form of pain, sadness, criticism, struggle, etc. but at the end of it I have a beautiful list of things to thank God for. From the night we found out we were going to have Chloe, we've tried our best to throw our hands up to God. Leaving it all to him. We put in the work by applying for jobs, going to the interviews, making sacrifices, doing the research... But we leave the outcomes to Him. I ask Him to give me the strength to take the rejection as Him telling me that that's not the opportunity for me... While also asking Him to give me the courage to step out of my comfort zone to take risks and put myself out there. I may come up against rejection and criticism... But if it makes me happy and I'm being true to myself and my values. I'll make it.
So, what are a few of your favorite cliches?
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