I’ve seen a lot of wedding albums on Facebook that were tagged with dream fairytailish titles like “our happy ever after begins here..” etc.. I have always found myself laughing whenever I read those titles. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not laughing at the happy-ever-after couple, I just find their naivete so amusing.
Because they really have no idea what comes AFTER the happily ever after..they don’t know what I know after just 5 years of marriage..
..that it often takes more than just love to be happy.
..that sometimes, loving turns into an effort more than an emotion.
..that ever after can seem like a really long time to be spent with someone whom you just had a big fight with.
..that, unlike in fairytales, overcoming the obstacles doesn’t always end with true love’s kiss. Sometimes it ends with a celebratory dinner, though more often it ends w/ your first shut-eye in days.
..that love takes more effort to maintain than the make-up you wore on your wedding day.
And that you constantly have to remind yourself why this prince was better than the rest and why this ever after is way better than Shrek’s. Because if you don’t, then your ever after just might end where the real work of keeping a marriage begins.
kwentokoto 
04/03/2015 at 1:19 AM
Did not take you long to realize that marriage takes a lot of work and effort if you wish to remain married. As someone who has had decades of marriage to the same man I know marriage is something you keeping working at each and every day. It is not always Happy Ever After.
04/03/2015 at 1:25 AM
I think i lost my naive outlook on marriage and love after the first year. Haha.. and I’m just thankful that we seem to be over the worst now because we understand each other better. Though we still have a loooooong way to go to get to where you’re at.
04/03/2015 at 2:15 AM
I use to laugh at my daughter when she was first married, she was so naive. She would tell me I should not make some of the comments about men that I made. Now, after several years of marriage she is right in there on the – “It’s A Man Thing.”
09/03/2015 at 3:31 AM
I think a story from antiquity suggests that the only safe place to put “happily ever after” is on a tombstone.
09/03/2015 at 8:42 AM
That’s a bit morbid but yeah, I kinda agree.