J.F.
No matter how old, or young you are when you are married, marriage is a bringing together of two lives. It is constant sacrifice and constant compromise. That is just how it is. Those sacrifices and compromise are something you do because you love and respect and cherish your marriage and your life together. You should not look at it as giving up your dreams, but rather melding your dreams with your husbands to create new ones together, and over the many years of marriage, you will have the chance to live out those dreams you create, together. Even the happiest marriage are hard. Marriage is the hardest job you will ever have. It is a job, it is WORK. Nothing worth having is easy. You fight for what you want and what you love every day. I am happily married, but it IS work. Some days are harder than others. Some days we breeze through. Some we don't. We both make mistakes but we knew when we married eachother that there is no such thing as a perfect person. Therefore,there is no such thing as a perfect marriage. We are all perfectly flawed, so we all have perfectly flawed marriages. If anyone tells you any different, they are lying. BUT...what defines us as people is how we handle our flaws and our problems in our marriage. Always try to handle them with dignity, and above all TRUTH. Be truthful to yourself always....which is VERY HARD. Take responsibility for what is wrong in your marriage and do your very best to fix it. If you are truthful with yourself and your husband, everything will work itself out, one way or another. Also, there is no reason that you can not "pursue your dreams" just because you "settled down and created a family." It might be harder to pursue those dreams, but it can be done if you want it bad enough. You CAN have both. But agian,,,it won't be easy. Hard work is an amazing thing and can get you just about anything you want. Maybe it has to wait till your kids are in school full time? That gives time for more school for you, or for what ever dream you pursue. Being a Mother and a Wife and doing it well is not a small thing.You can be married, but that does not make you a wife. You can have a baby, but it does not make you a Mommy. To raise children that are confident, hard working, decent, loving, honest human beings is an amazing thing. They learn first by example, and you are their number one example as a Mommy. Look inside yourself and you will find an amazing strength...and you can do whatever you really want to do with it :-) We are women,,here us ROAR!!!!!! :-) Hugs to you...and one to put into your pocket for when you need it :-)