Reflecting on 1.5 years of International Marriage

It's been quite a while since Taiki and I've made any progress on this little blog here. To be honest, the past year was kind of a huge blur of uncertainty and stress (which is still somewhat the case). We've gone through two moves, job changes, three hour commutes, and a few family situations, so things have been a bit hectic. And in the midst of insanity, the thought of organizing thoughts here or posting our raw experience did come up, but just did not happen. Although I've probably gained 15 pounds - that definitely happened. 

So, let's call this for what I'm hoping it will end up being - a turn for some good change. 

And Taiki and I've both definitely changed. It's only been about a year and a half of our married life together, but we've had a fabulously awesome jump start on working out the kinks (that's a good way to put it - right?). Our cultural differences, on top of language and personality differences, seem to come up fairly often and we've had more arguments than I can remember. What I can remember is that every single time, Taiki has never failed to communicate. 

Since 90% of our conversations are in English, this can sometimes be a not-so-good thing. English is his second language, so words can sometimes come out a bit too blunt or just not very gentle at all. And I usually forget he's not a native speaker, since we pretty much always speak English, right? So miscommunications randomly jump out at any moment. Seriously. We've had arguments over the smallest things -- a laugh, a look, a tone of voice or even a lack of. 

But it definitely does come back to communication. I've seriously come to appreciate Taiki and never giving up, even when I've gotten frustrated and pulled away so many times. 

After quite a bit of personal reflection and family revelations, I've definitely realized the need to take care of myself and have a bit more humor when it comes to miscommunications. 

It's already May -- but here's to personal improvement year 2017! :)