I guess we haven’t been compelled to write a post on married life in awhile. The rest of South East Asia was a breeze. We got into a routine of picking locations to visit, planning travel, doing fun activities, and eating at restaurants. There seemed to be a nice flow of the weeks and a nice balance between the two of us in the routine. Then we arrived in New Zealand and everything changed.

Although the scenery was still changing on a regular basis, we were sleeping in the same bed every night. That bed took up most of the room in our small campervan and for the whole month we shared the bed with bedbugs. To protect our bodies at night, we were sleeping with inspect repellent clothing covering us from head to toe. I’m pretty sure these circumstances would take a tole on any relationship.

Throughout the month, we both had times when we were down on the situation or when we would get short with each other. But thankfully it wouldn’t happen at the same time. When I was down, Will would put everything in perspective and help me get back to a better mood. Looking back on it, the month probably allowed the most growth for our marriage. We learned more about each other’s limits and the best way to support each other when things are hard. So, I’m sorry to report to any naysayers out there that our marriage survived after living in a bug infested car for a month and we might even be stronger for it!

We just celebrated our second year of marriage while in Australia and this anniversary felt extra special. Two years ago, we returned from our two week honeymoon (which was the longest time we had ever spent together). We flew into LAX and had to take separate flights to separate states to go back to work. I remember feeling so sad separating that time and knowing I did not want us to continue working long distance forever. On our first anniversary, we were again traveling to our separate states and spent most of the day in airports (at least we flew one leg together). It was so wonderful to celebrate this anniversary with a special dinner and the peace of mind knowing we would not have to be flying off to different locations.