Why We Waited

At this point, Shannon and I are the only ones who know about this blog, and I don't think that Shannon has read the first blog yet? For those who are married, you know the pressure from friends, family, co-workers, and the worst, yet our moms (ri, ri, ri [that would be music from psycho]). I will talk about that pressure later on. Disclaimer: This is what we have decided, for those of you who have children 9 months after they ring the bells or those of you who wait maybe even decades, we are not judging you, this is just why we waited. Shannon and I have lots of friends who are many years older than us. Even when we dated we double dated with people over twice our age. If you know me, I am a questioner and a learner. I like to get many perspectives on things. When we talked to my aunts Tara and Paula (my mom's sisters, who are not far off from my age) they talked about waiting five years. So we took their advice.
They made what I believed was the greatest contention for waiting versus having them right away. They and their husbands talked about how waiting gave them a lot of time to bond and to become a great couple. They also talked about the benefits of moving away to become your own couple (Tara and Dave went to Pittsburgh, Paula and Dave [believe it or not I have an uncle Dave on my Dad's side too] moved to Colorado, and Shannon and I moved to Florida). I would have to say that moving away from home definitly strengthened our marriage. When times were tough emotionally, financially, spiritually, or physically we were the only people to rely on.
Some of our friends who had children right away would agree that having children right away is harder in the sense of not being able to get to know each other first. Not that any of them regret having their children, but they recognize how much easier it would have been to wait.
We definitly are close. Shannon is my best friend. We just ran a marathon together (finishing hand in hand), we like to hike together, watch shows together, go places together. I can't say that about all the couples we know. So whether you wait or not, that is your choice, but this was the basic reason we waited. Thanks for asking.