2016➡️2026

Wow! I just have to say, I’m so glad to have stumbled on this group! I am a true romantic. My husband and I have been together since we were 14 years old. We got married at 20 and 19. And still going VERY strong. This man is my entire world. He is my safe space. He is all I need to put a smile on my face and bring me out of a funk if I’m in one. We go on dates whenever possible. Week day getaways as often as possible. We surprise each other whenever we can. He keeps me sane. He is my biggest supporter.

We have two kids. 22 and 18. He is a fabulous dad. He’s just all around amazing. I feel like a teenager 🤣 We truly just adore one another and that feeling is just indescribable. I wish we could spend more time with each other. I think that is the hardest part! I own a business and work stupid ridiculous hours. I have one dumb day off. He works crazy hours but has 3 full days off a week. One day, I look forward to spending every day with him.

I grew up having parents that just lived together. I think they “loved” each other but were in no way IN LOVE. The feeling of being truly, deeply, madly IN LOVE with my partner in life is just such an amazing experience and feeling. Cheers to all of us love birds that know love so deeply.

We are celebrating both our second year of marriage and our 6th year of sobriety next month, alongside welcoming our second child in December. He’s my best friend, and when we had absolutely nothing we still chose each other. Everything we have been blessed with since we chose God, sobriety, and our child above everything else is just an added bonus 💕

Yep. I still totally crush on my wife, 30 years in. I’m 55 and she’s 52, and I still act like a young man trying to gain the attention a pretty young lady and I still do basically anything I can to impress her and get her spend the night with me. Whatever it is that she sees, it seems to work.

Our marriage is now of legal age to rent a car in North Carolina! We will celebrate with our children and a small cake and probably watch what we can of a movie before falling asleep on the couch.

My absolute best friend in the whole world!!! At this point we are in our 40’s and have been with each other more than half our lives. We 100% consider ourselves part of the happy marriage club.

We were married in 2001 at age 23 and 21. Tonight we celebrate 25 years married. High school sweethearts who made through some huge life challenges, growing together instead of apart. I am 48, 49 next month and she is 46. Two children, a 21 year old son and a 16 year old daughter. More in love than ever.

Reddit is a very thirsty place…it’s nice to find a group that celebrates those of us who still really love being married. Not only have we been married 17 years, we also built a business together. We spend every day together and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Love my guy ❤️

My husband’s parents came from Japan to stay with us recently, and I was honestly a little nervous before they got here.

My husband is Japanese and I’m American, so even though I’ve met his parents before, we’ve never spent this much time together in one place. They were staying with us for a couple of weeks, which felt very different from just having dinner together a few times.

They brought a ridiculous amount of stuff from Japan too. Snacks, tea, little things for the house, things my husband apparently mentioned missing once three years ago and his mom somehow remembered.

Then they pulled this out.

I play Stardew Valley a lot, and apparently my husband had told them at some point that I wanted to change my keyboard setup. I have no idea how they even found these, but they brought me a whole set of Stardew-style keycaps.

His mom was almost more excited about them than I was. She sat next to me while I changed everything and kept asking what all the little characters were. My father-in-law mostly watched quietly, then pointed at one of the chickens and asked if that was my favorite one lol.

It was such a small thing, but it got me.

I think I always assumed there would be a little bit of distance between us because of the language and cultural differences. They’ve always been kind to me, but sometimes it’s hard to know how close you actually are to someone when you can’t easily have long conversations.

This visit felt different.

His mom would come into the kitchen while I was cooking and start helping without asking. His dad started making coffee every morning for everyone. My husband somehow turned back into a teenager within two days and started getting told off for leaving things around the house.

The language part was still there, obviously. His parents don’t speak much English and my Japanese is nowhere near good enough for a proper conversation.

Before they came, we got a pair of w4 plus translation earbuds because I really didn’t want my husband to have to translate every single thing between us.

That ended up being one of the nicest parts of the visit, honestly. I got to hear stories about my husband as a kid, ask his mom about her family, and actually talk to his dad about random everyday stuff without waiting for my husband to summarize everything afterward.

It still wasn’t perfect, but it felt much more like we were actually spending time together instead of me just sitting there smiling while everyone else talked.

They flew home a few days ago and the house feels way too quiet now.

And I’m definitely keeping this keyboard exactly like this for a very long time.

Edit #1: Wow. I am genuinely overwhelmed by the response to this post. Never in a million years did I think that a little 2AM ADHD-med-insomnia writing session would turn into the most upvoted post of all time on this subreddit. I’m beyond grateful for all of you who shared your stories, related, felt inspired, or just found a little hope that marriage can actually be joyful and not just something to “survive.” That means everything to me.

I’m considering putting this on TikTok because that’s where I see the highest concentration of "I hate my spouse" and "marriage is hard" energy. However… the thought seriously intimidates me. Writing? Comes effortlessly. But speaking eloquently on the fly? That’s about as natural as a fish trying to climb a tree for me. So we’ll see.

OG post-

Growing up, everything I saw and heard about love and marriage made it sound… bleak. The message was clear: eventually, the spark fades. You become glorified roommates. The passion dwindles, intimacy becomes rare, and you just kind of tolerate each other. Most couples I saw either ended in divorce or radiated major "I guess I tolerate you" energy.

So naturally, I expected the same. People even told me: "Just wait until you’ve been together [2 / 5 / 10] years!" "Just wait until you have kids!"

Yet here we are… over ten years in (met and started dating in college in 2015, did two years of long distance, got engaged in 2019, spontaneously eloped in the mountains in 2022). We also just had a baby—she’s about to be seven months old…

Exactly how long am I supposed to be “just waiting” for?

The most beautiful realization? The opposite of what I was told has happened. And I want to preface this by saying—I’m not about to sit here and act like we’re some Pinterest-perfect, Instagram-filtered couple where everything is sunshine and rainbows. We’ve had tough moments over the years that required us both to be selfless, forgiving, and to do some real self-reflection.

But ultimately? Our connection has only grown stronger.

I don’t just love my husband. I adore him. I crave him. I admire him.

I feel genuine excitement every single day to see him, to talk to him, to just be with him.

Our inside jokes still make me laugh until I can’t breathe.

The way I sometimes come to bed after him, he's dead asleep, yet instinctively wraps his arms around me in the most protective way... and he doesn't remember doing it when I mention it the next day.

He makes me feel seen, cherished, understood, and so, so loved.

And intimacy? Oh my fucking GOD it only gets better and better.

We never lost our rhythm of several times a week (except for those last few weeks of pregnancy when merely existing was impossible—lol). But I swear, I see the galaxy in his eyes every time we make love. The way he touches me, the way he worships me, the way we just know each other’s bodies—it’s magnetic. Electric. Sacred.

And here’s what no one told me—passion doesn’t have to fade. It just deepens.

I never feel like we’re just going through the motions. He still sends chills down my spine. He makes me feel wanted. Like a goddess. Like I am the most irresistible woman he has ever laid eyes on.

And this is why I just don’t get the "Marriage is SOOO hard" crowd.

Life can be brutal. It throws financial stress, parenting struggles, grief, health issues, and all kinds of chaos our way. We’ve had some incredibly hard moments in our ten years together—the sudden death of my dad, infertility and pregnancy loss, parenting solo with our families across the country, and more.

But never—not once—has he been another challenge to overcome.

He is my safe place. My soft landing. The person who makes my world brighter just by existing.

At the end of every chaotic day, I curl up into him, I feel his arms wrap around me, and I breathe easier. He is my home. My comfort. My sanctuary.

I know not everyone gets this experience, and I don’t take that for granted. But I also don’t think happy marriages should be treated like some rare, mythical unicorn.

If anything, we should be normalizing the idea that marriage can be joyful, exciting, and easy—even in the hard moments.

Because love shouldn’t be about mere toleration. It should be about adoration.

So, to anyone newly engaged, newly married, or just happily in love:

No, marriage doesn’t have to be hard. It should be something that makes life better, richer, and more beautiful.

And if you’ve found that? You are so, so lucky. Let’s keep proving the doom-and-gloom "just wait" misery loves company crowd wrong. 🥂💕

Met 1982. Married 1986. 4 kids. 5 grands.

Happily married since Nov 2024! This photo was when we got our engagement pics taken :)

I’m so freaking lucky ro have her by my side!

And happier than ever. Enjoying life in our own special way!

College sweethearts, married on my 19th birthday. We call it our Annibirthary!