Marriage: Support

The other night I was explaining to my mom that Luna and I don't fight. She commented back "not yet." I laughed and said, "no, really. We don't fight. We agree to disagree and drop it." She thought for a minute and said, "well, that'll all change once you have kids."

I really don't think so. Luna has been with me through some really tough times.

When we first met, I resigned from AmeriCorps, and spent 30 days without a job. I've never been without a job, and needless to say, I was a little bit depressed and Luna kept me company

Shortly after, I  started working for a then unknown school named UIC College Prep. It was a ton of work, I wasn't experienced in this field, and there were times when I took work home... and also took my frustrations out on Luna. He laughed at my angry outbursts and hugged me.

Then there was the morning my cousin was murdered right at the corner of my house. This was probably one of the darkest and worse days of mine and my entire families lives. My cousin never got to meet Luna, but he would have loved him right from the moment he saw how well he treated me. Especially during that time.

We moved in together a year after we'd met, and now we had to pool our paychecks together to make ends meet. He paid the groceries and bills, I paid the rent. We split the cooking and cleaning, and it was the best first year living together.

My car has broken down, I have borrowed his truck and he's pedaled his bike to work, and never has he shown any resentment towards me.

Fast forward a few years, and recently I just had the suckiest couple weeks. We found out that after leaving work, a co-worker of mine had a brain aneurysm while he'd been driving home. He was somehow able to drive himself to the hospital and he's been in an induced coma for the past 2 weeks. I was upset and prayed for his recovery and strength for his family, and panicked at how this was going to impact my social studies department. Like any other day, I called Luna on my drive home and he said things would work out.

The next day, our school Principal told us that he had been offered a position by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and that he planned on taking it immediately. ANOTHER day of complete tears. This guy had given me a chance, and hired me after I had resigned from AmeriCorps. He'd mentored me, and helped me see that I didn't want to do office work; he helped me to realize that teaching was my calling. Through COMPLETE tears, Luna told me that the feelings I had were understandable because I'd looked up to the Principal for so many years. I feel asleep that night early, crying, with Luna hugging me.

The next day, we find out that a student from our Senior class had been in a car accident and had suffered a severe brain injury. At this point, I couldn't take any more news. A co-worker was fighting for his life, my mentor had broken up with my school and left us, and a student had nearly died and was also fighting for his life.

Luna has been my rock. Through all of this, and even when I've been mad at him for leaving his plates on the dinning room table, or throwing his clothes where ever he decides to take them off, I always take a minute to think of what life might be without him, and if my anger is really worth it.

We disagree with each other every now and then. But, what makes us different from many couples, is our ability to listen to each other's view, acknowledge that person's good points and then explain our own thinking. We agree to disagree and don't knock each other for thinking a certain way. We don't yell at each other... and the one time I got really upset, I took a drive and came back to discuss my feelings about things.

So, when we have kids, I'm sure we'll have disagreements on how to raise those boogers... but, for better or worse, until death do us part... we'll work it out :)