Unshakable Sense of Self

I read this article back in 2006 when it came out, and I have kept it ever since. Ironically, I married a cyclist as well, but I'm not implying anything. To me, Kristin Armstrong's writing is profound. Perhaps that is because you can feel her "I should have done it differently" emotion in the urgency of her words. There is so much in this article that I not only want my soon-to-be-married friends to know, but that I remind myself of constantly. It hits home in a lot of places; a lot of the advice she gives parallels to things Devin has to remind me to do. It reminds me of things that I am quick to forget, but that are so substantial in a balanced married life. I don't agree with everything she says, because the Bible calls us to love and interact in sacrificial ways in marriage. And maybe Kristin did that, but maybe she did it to the extreme, which I catch myself doing. The principle...the bottom line of not losing you...the advice about saying what you think and not giving up the things that you love that make you you...it is all advice that needs to be given to a new bride. But, like she says, we're all so quick to throw the showers and give the gifts and send the newlyweds on their way, but we never sit them down and tell them how it will be and how to keep their personal identity in the role of a wife...a wife with a unique and unshakable sense of self.