Reflection – Looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer

As Michael and I are getting ready for “I do” we are taking steps within the church to prepare for marriage, and it has led to a lot of reflecting during the past couple of weeks. With both of us being tasked to write our own autobiography and answer all of these questions, I’ve taken the time to answer them honestly and truthfully. With so much to write, I’ve been chipping away at it a little at a time, allowing more time to reflect on each of the following sections:

• Your Parents
• Your Brothers & Sisters
• Your Teachers, Employers, and Other Authority Figures
• Your Peers, Friends and Co-Workers
• Yourself
• Your Religion
• Your Fiance’s Parents
• Your Fiance’s Brothers & Sisters
• Your Fiance’s Teachers. Employers, and Other Authority Figures
• Your Fiance’s Peers, Friends and Co-Workers
• Your Fiance
• Your Fiance’s Religion
• Your Courtship
• Your Future Life Together

If you think that is a lot, you should see all of the questions within each section! I don’t mind it, but then again, I like to write… Michael on the other hand has been dreading all of the writing he has to do, but any who…

I stumbled upon the quote above and felt that it really applied, especially after looking back the past two weeks to answer these questions. If you notice the sections above, it wants us to talk about our past first and then look into the future to identify our goals and outlook for our life together.

I’m definitely not done with my autobiography, but I did start to jump around a bit and last night I moved to the last section, with the final question of “Briefly describe what you expect from marriage.” It took me a minute to digest this question and understand what I wanted to write about my expectations of marriage. I felt like the word expect put an emphasis on something I hadn’t previously thought about. As I started to write this section, it just started to flow and I realized that my expectations for marriage are and will be fluid as life will give us curve balls and we will need to adapt to each new chapter of our lives. Here’s what I had to say:

I expect to be in a committed relationship with my friend and partner, I expect him to be there for me when I need him, just as I expect to be there for him when needed, I expect us to disagree and argue, but I expect us to communicate and work through it, I expect to be loved and cherished, as I expect to provide the same to him, I expect to have a shoulder to lean on and a friend to laugh with, I expect to listen when needed and I expect to be heard when needed, I expect us to grow and learn together and to enjoy the journey regardless of the path that is put in front of us.

I am excited of the journey that we have embarked on. I am also eager to continue our preparation through the church as I believe it gives us the time to reflect and understand each other on a different level to better equip us for the sacrament of marriage.