Welcome to Committedat18.com

My mother used to tell me that marriage is one of the hardest unions to manage but once you find your place in it- it becomes one of the greatest ones. Now I don’t want this blog to be a blog filled with romantic clichés, I believe marriage is much, much more than just that, but my mother’s words allow me to understand and hopefully make you, my reader, understand that marriage is a journey.  A journey that I have found is difficult and testing but also a journey that has given me moments of simple, unexplainable bliss.

Having grown up as a Muslim woman, I have often heard the idea that we get married off very young. An incident that comes to mind is one when my husband and I were travelling. We sat in the cramped economy seats excited for our upcoming trip when a man sitting beside us turned and asked; “Oh are you married? You’re Muslim aren’t you? You must be married young!” Now let me take this time to explain something; being Muslim and getting married young are two very different things. I do not disagree that there are traditions that encourage women to get married very young with reasons of their own, but mine was not one of them. Furthermore, Islam is a religion not a tradition therefore correlating them in such a way is as good as correlating being American with being obese. In fact, had we been asked about “settling down” when I was sixteen, both my parents and I would have laughed at the person’s face.

When I first decided to write this blog I didn’t know whether I wanted to mention the fact that I was Muslim or not, not because I was ashamed- I am very proud of that part of my life, but because I genuinely truly want this blog to be for everyone out there who is considering commitment at such a young age and those who are already in a committed relationship, not just the Muslim community! I want to write this blog so that I may help us as growing, changing people understand the dilemmas of marriage through my own. I want to be able to explain to you that it does work and will hopefully continue to work. My marriage is the best thing I ever did even on my worse days. I hope to be able to write of the things that I found the most important aspects of my life as a married woman and  do it in the utmost honest way possible. I have struggled and I was confused and there are days when I still am, but I am willing to share my story- my experiences with you. I want this blog to be able to give you someone else’s story- someone who has been there, done it and is ready to tell you their version of it. I do not say marriage at such a young age is for everyone but I also do not say that it is for no one!

Sincerely,

S.D.