Nah Jereminator, I'm 31 this past November and I still feel 20 something!
So it's not just you.
Every story is different, people involved are, I can only tell you of my experiences.
I have major trust issues (A screwed up family with divorce and some Crazy Assed teenage early 20's years).
I knew I was attracted to other girls when I was about 12, it took me until about 21 to comes to terms with it and act on it.
I thought I never wanted a "normal" family life. I met B and he was my on the side, call you up come over and lets get nasty guy.
As I mentioned before my husband was a big playa for a looong time.
We didn't talk for 2yrs and the whole time I would think of him regularly. So when he came back into my life speaking about love and devotion, he had at least my ear.
But I didn't believe him. He had to prove himself to me. He did.
But before all that I had to evaluate me. I am a very loyal person. I believe in complete faithfulness, to not be is to demean yourself as well as the other.
I had to decide if I wanted another LTR, I have always been in them pretty quickly again between relationships...I seem to have that effect on men....so I wasn't sure if I was ready to give up my freedom. Plus I was kickin it with someone at that time and I could see we were catching feelings.
I was living in NYC at the time in my own apartment had a nice job, friends and generally I was real content. Going to clubs and bars and basically playing around every chance I got. Plus I just got my freedom back and wasn't anxious to start another.
But B is/was special to me, we just had this kind of connection and when we got with eachother again, he wasn't letting me go for anything.
Normally he is very stoic and closed but when he was trying to win me over to be serious with him, he bared his soul.
I still read those emails when his self containment gets on my nerves...I know it's there, he just isn't a very demonstrative person.
About the marriage part.
Well it IS hard for many reasons...I would say don't have children right away enjoy eachother for a while, kids are very stressful, time consuming, and sometimes downright annoying (mine are 16mnths apart) so they are constantly messing with eachother.
Marriage is something you have to work together at all the time. You are constantly making adjustments, giving things up that bug your spouse and compromising on a myriad of issues.
You really gotta have mad love for the person you're with to be with them day after day and know in your heart that they are the last person you'll ever have carnel knowledge of, (that messed with me for a while before deciding I could do it with him). I still desire women and check them out but now I just look
So in those respect it is hard but to imagine waking up with him not there makes my blood chill.
I love him so much it hurts sometimes. Our marriage is not all smooth. We argue, sometimes over the dumbest things, we get irritated with eachother, this one didn't do that, the other hasn't been doing that. It just constant work and comminucation.
Maintainig a house is also hard it's almost like another child, always something to spend money on....raising children though is the hardest.
A good rule to live by is never let your arguments get dirty. We don't swear at eachother, try not to raise our voices and try not to bring in other issues that have nothing to do with why the argument started in the first place.
But we are 11yrs apart so for us there is the age issue, I want to be young, go out, do stuff I shouldn't (like smoke a dutch every now and then) go up to NY to hang out with friends (without the kids), sometimes I bring 'em though to give him a break.
One interesting fact for you guys out there. When your girl goes on a vacation, you will, upon her return produce 300 million more sperm than usual (read this in Discover magazine), because when you have sex again your body wants to make sure that in case she's been unfaithful it is your sprem that gets the egg......nature is so wild.
I bring this up because I've always used the rythym method, for over 7yrs. My husband got me pregnent with my first after I got back from Jamaica, and then 7mnths later I had to go to the Bahamas for a wedding and when I got back he got me pregnant with the 2nd! And it wasn't supposed to be my fertile time!!
We were together for 9mnths before I got pregnant, we only saw eachother on the weekends I was in NY and he was in Phillie. And he would get there late Friday(after he went to the gym) and leave mid morning Sunday to watch football...lol....plus he didn't want to get caught in traffic around the stadiums if the Giants had a home game or the Eagles...
Through all this work what sustains me is our love. I know he loves me beyond everything, I know he respects me, and I know that he desires me above all others. I feel the same, and above it all I respect him as the strong, smart, sexy as all get out, man that he is.