I married Jeremy for a lot of reasons, including because he always made me laugh. Status: he still always makes me laugh. With some of the exact same jokes as ten years ago, even!
Another reason I married Jeremy is because I knew he came with a lifetime of international adventure guarantee. Status: Yep, we've had a lot of international adventures, and I couldn't be happier. (Note: a lot of people have assumed that Jeremy sprung the whole international living thing on me after we were married. Fact: that is not true. I went into this with my eyes wide open, people.)
I loved Jeremy because he was a nerdy linguist like me. Status: he is still a nerdy linguist (and I still love him). A nerdy linguist with approximately four more degrees than when I first met him, no less. (He technically has two master's degrees. Linguists do not get any nerdier than that.)
Of course, I also married Jeremy because I knew he would be fabulously wealthy right out of his undergrad degree. Status: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. But you know, a lot of people go to college for seven years. And Jeremy IS a doctor, so. I'm ok with Jeremy not making absurdly huge amounts of money as long as he's ok with being married to a cheapskate.
Before we got married, people were fond of telling us that the first year would be the hardest. Those people were liars. Turns out, the first year was AWESOME. Now, I'm not about to recommend that everyone hop up and move to Russia six weeks into their marriage, where they will be isolated from any and all family members and have to rely entirely on each other to hack out a living in one of the bleakest places on earth, but...HOP UP AND MOVE TO RUSSIA. Some things about that year sucked, but I treasure our time in Russia for the solid family foundation we built there. It was just Jeremy and Bridget, Team Walker/Palmer against the world.
I don't think there is a universal part of marriage that you can point to and say, "that is the hardest." But high up on the list has to be having children. Jeremy and I were married for almost four years before Miriam was born. She was a long time in coming, and very much wanted and yearned for. And she completely rocked our world. Sometimes you can judge the strength of your commitment to your spouse by how often you take the time to go on dates together. I think the more meaningful tests come at 3.30 in the morning when the baby is up for the seventeenth time that night and spit-up/vomit/poo is involved somehow and you have to discuss with your spouse, right then and there, what to do about it.
A final note: you may recall that I wrote recently about turning 30 years old, and now I am writing about my tenth wedding anniversary. So yes, I got married when I was 20. And what of it? Do I think 20 is a terrifyingly young age to get married? Absolutely. I will require my own daughters to be at least 45, thanks. But in my defense, I was a more robust 20 than you might think (weren't we all, right?). I got engaged in October, married in November, and then graduated from the BYU in December. I knew what I wanted out of life, so I was ready when it came time to take it to the next level with Jeremy.
And I'm so glad I did! Happy anniversary to us.
By the way, if this isn't enough sap for you, feel free to check out the When Bridget Met Jeremy saga.