The Claytons
...just celebrated their one-month anniversary!!!
This semester, I am taking 12 hours of class but 3 hours of undergrad honors thesis research (which I haven't exactly started yet). I'm taking Louisiana History (which seems like history of Louisianaian cartography from the way it is taught), Internal Audit II (a.k.a. "study on your own for "pop" examinations throughout the semester), Advanced Cost Accounting (the art of making employees stick with budgets) and Interpersonal Communication (disclosing parts of your self-concept to random people in the hope they will become non-random people). I'm working about 17 hours per week in the Department of ISDS on campus, and I'm taking the LSAT (law school admission test) at the end of this month. Other than that, I'm doing Beta Alpha Psi and enjoying cooking when Amanda lets me!
This semester for Amanda is a bit nontraditional for a student, but it's awesome. She's interning with the Louisiana Department of Tourism filming historic and other sites of interest for the State. Today she's actually editing her footage in New Orleans. Since some people have asked, No, she is not commuting to Loyola. It's wonderful that she's able to work downtown here in Baton Rouge at the Capitol, except for when she has to go on a film shoot across the State (funded by the State, though). She also gets a monetary stipend, which is terrific, and takes one class on Fridays, per her internship requirement.
Amanda and I are both graduating in May 2008. We are having a Bible study in our apartment Mondays at 7:30 p.m. (so if you're reading this, comment on this post if you want to come and I'll give you directions). We are both involved with Louisiana Students for Life at the state level and are planning the statewide conference to be held October 27-28 (register at http://www.lastudentsforlife.com/). We both are getting tired of "how's married life?", but smile and say all that can be reasonably said: "Wonderful!" But the attention is nice, I suppose.
The truth is we are loving married life. I haven't forced Amanda to start up her own blog, so I can only continue to share my own thoughts, so I will do that now.
Of course, that's one blessed thing about marriage, that my thoughts are not just my thoughts any more. There really is an intimacy of thought exchange that occurs, which is inexplicable, but true. Amanda and I have always been complimented on being a "cute" couple, but that does not result from being carbon copies of each other. We both have similar passions, goals and hopes, but very different ways of going about and communicating these to each other and to people. Our head-over-heels love for each other has taken on a new element of learning to communicate better. And somehow, through the intimacy of communication, we have started to complete each other's thoughts and statements. This didn't always come naturally pre-marriage, but it's something I've noticed just in one month of being together.
Sex is delectable and even celestial. Now I really am a proponent of the belief that sexual intercourse existed in God's original pre-Adamic fall Eden, albeit in a more perfect state, which I find both hard to believe and entirely probable.
There are all these rituals of love that come along with marriage. There's the process of learning how to say goodbye in the morning (and in somewhat time-reasonable manner), figuring out how much cleaning we do in the evenings, understanding when the other person wants to go to sleep, spending a half-hour recollecting the many happenings of our separate days one we coalesce at the day's end.....
And I know I speak for both of us when I say that we cannot get enough of each other. Just because we see each other every day does not take away our desire to be one. With friends, I felt I could always "get my fill" of someone through a hearty conversation and be able to go a week or so (fill in the blank with appopriate measure of time). Not so with my wife. I think about her all the time during the day and long to know the innermost of her thoughts at that moment. I've never enjoyed cleaning my place of residence so much. There really is the idea of keeping the "nest" clean and tidy, like both of us want our abode to be a representation of who we are as one unified couple.
There are newfound frustrations as well. She could only roll her eyes when I informed her one evening that I would not join her in the land of slumber until I had first cleaned the dishes and done something I had started on the computer. But this is where the love of God comes in. Where we both once did whatever we desired, we now are learning to compromise, which is what marriage often is, one big compromise.
The two best things about marriage, for me, are the companionship and intimacy of the heart. Companionship is easy for anyone to understand, so I won't explain that. But intimacy of the heart is, I guess, this feeling that no matter if I rose or fell during my day, was liked or disliked, succeeded or fell, it doesn't matter. Because Amanda's heart will provide the nurture and confidence I need. And vice versa.
Oh and one other thing. We're finding it's important to stay physically active and not get lazy. Therefore I'm back in the weightroom with Patrick, Recka and Michael (Pat's friend from law school), and Amanda is working out, too, and looking to play intramural soccer. Racquetball is our favorite thing to play together.
This semester, I am taking 12 hours of class but 3 hours of undergrad honors thesis research (which I haven't exactly started yet). I'm taking Louisiana History (which seems like history of Louisianaian cartography from the way it is taught), Internal Audit II (a.k.a. "study on your own for "pop" examinations throughout the semester), Advanced Cost Accounting (the art of making employees stick with budgets) and Interpersonal Communication (disclosing parts of your self-concept to random people in the hope they will become non-random people). I'm working about 17 hours per week in the Department of ISDS on campus, and I'm taking the LSAT (law school admission test) at the end of this month. Other than that, I'm doing Beta Alpha Psi and enjoying cooking when Amanda lets me!
This semester for Amanda is a bit nontraditional for a student, but it's awesome. She's interning with the Louisiana Department of Tourism filming historic and other sites of interest for the State. Today she's actually editing her footage in New Orleans. Since some people have asked, No, she is not commuting to Loyola. It's wonderful that she's able to work downtown here in Baton Rouge at the Capitol, except for when she has to go on a film shoot across the State (funded by the State, though). She also gets a monetary stipend, which is terrific, and takes one class on Fridays, per her internship requirement.
Amanda and I are both graduating in May 2008. We are having a Bible study in our apartment Mondays at 7:30 p.m. (so if you're reading this, comment on this post if you want to come and I'll give you directions). We are both involved with Louisiana Students for Life at the state level and are planning the statewide conference to be held October 27-28 (register at http://www.lastudentsforlife.com/). We both are getting tired of "how's married life?", but smile and say all that can be reasonably said: "Wonderful!" But the attention is nice, I suppose.
The truth is we are loving married life. I haven't forced Amanda to start up her own blog, so I can only continue to share my own thoughts, so I will do that now.
Of course, that's one blessed thing about marriage, that my thoughts are not just my thoughts any more. There really is an intimacy of thought exchange that occurs, which is inexplicable, but true. Amanda and I have always been complimented on being a "cute" couple, but that does not result from being carbon copies of each other. We both have similar passions, goals and hopes, but very different ways of going about and communicating these to each other and to people. Our head-over-heels love for each other has taken on a new element of learning to communicate better. And somehow, through the intimacy of communication, we have started to complete each other's thoughts and statements. This didn't always come naturally pre-marriage, but it's something I've noticed just in one month of being together.
Sex is delectable and even celestial. Now I really am a proponent of the belief that sexual intercourse existed in God's original pre-Adamic fall Eden, albeit in a more perfect state, which I find both hard to believe and entirely probable.
There are all these rituals of love that come along with marriage. There's the process of learning how to say goodbye in the morning (and in somewhat time-reasonable manner), figuring out how much cleaning we do in the evenings, understanding when the other person wants to go to sleep, spending a half-hour recollecting the many happenings of our separate days one we coalesce at the day's end.....
And I know I speak for both of us when I say that we cannot get enough of each other. Just because we see each other every day does not take away our desire to be one. With friends, I felt I could always "get my fill" of someone through a hearty conversation and be able to go a week or so (fill in the blank with appopriate measure of time). Not so with my wife. I think about her all the time during the day and long to know the innermost of her thoughts at that moment. I've never enjoyed cleaning my place of residence so much. There really is the idea of keeping the "nest" clean and tidy, like both of us want our abode to be a representation of who we are as one unified couple.
There are newfound frustrations as well. She could only roll her eyes when I informed her one evening that I would not join her in the land of slumber until I had first cleaned the dishes and done something I had started on the computer. But this is where the love of God comes in. Where we both once did whatever we desired, we now are learning to compromise, which is what marriage often is, one big compromise.
The two best things about marriage, for me, are the companionship and intimacy of the heart. Companionship is easy for anyone to understand, so I won't explain that. But intimacy of the heart is, I guess, this feeling that no matter if I rose or fell during my day, was liked or disliked, succeeded or fell, it doesn't matter. Because Amanda's heart will provide the nurture and confidence I need. And vice versa.
Oh and one other thing. We're finding it's important to stay physically active and not get lazy. Therefore I'm back in the weightroom with Patrick, Recka and Michael (Pat's friend from law school), and Amanda is working out, too, and looking to play intramural soccer. Racquetball is our favorite thing to play together.
posted by Josh @ Friday, September 14, 2007
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