Decision-Making 101

There are lots of decisions that young, married couples get to make together. There are decisions that we make when I really love having someone to help decide – I like if we want beef or chicken for dinner, if we should get the generic oil at the Jiffy Lube or if we should get the good kind, if we want to go see a movie or watch one at home. Then there are the decisions that I wish I could just make by myself and not have to consult someone – like if we should go to Subway for lunch instead of McDonald’s, if we should renew our AAA membership or not (I say no, he says yes, by the way), or if we should lay around napping on Sundays or work in the yard.

And then there is the third category of decision-making as a young, married couple that can get a bit…tense. These are decisions like where are we going to live, should we buy a house now or later, or should we join Netflicks or Blockbuster? As a young, single person these are hard decisions to make. But as a young, married couple they become a wee smidge harder.

As a young, single person, you can be as successful as you want to be. You can go anywhere you put your mind to go. As a young, married couple, you still WANT to be as successful as you can be. You still WANT to go anywhere you put your mind to go. And you still can do these things, but it takes an extra step because you have to make sure that your successes and goals are within a reasonable commuting distance from your partners.

This might be the hardest part of being a young, married couple. And maybe its the hardest part of being any kind of married couple. Or any kind of couple, for that matter. Making the decisions that will balance each of you while still being able to come home to the same house at night. Much harder than it sounds. We are still trying to find the answer to this, but I am fairly certain that at the heart of whatever the answer might be is the simple truth that we chose to go on this ride together and at this point, the lap belts are securely tightened and we are pulling away from the platform. No turning back now. So we just grab eachother’s hands and get ready to scream, laugh, get flipped upside down, and maybe even puke along the way. As hard as these decisions are, at the end of the day there really is just one question to answer.

Is the person strapped in next to you the person you want to ride with for the rest of your life?

My answer is yes.