Ziti

   You're probably thinking to yourself, "what does ziti have to do with marriage?". I'm not here to say the secret to a solid marriage or relationship is ziti, but it might save a lot of fighting. You see cooking is a skill everyone should have, whether you plan to get married someday or not. You don't have to be the next Iron Chef or Rachel Ray, it's just as good to know the basics and a few go to dishes.
    How many nights have you asked each other about what to have for dinner? How many nights have either of you said "I don't know"? Probably equal times. Then I bet one of you mentions something, and the other one hates that. Perhaps one of you offers another place and the other says no because it's not cheap enough. At least that's how I've heard some couples are about figuring out where to eat.
    You know what can spare that constant back and forth? One or both of you knowing how to cook! Now I know some nights it can be just too hectic for one of you to get a meal prepared. But that's okay, because it doesn't have to be fancy cooking, just edible and delicious! It's important for one of you to have basic cooking skills since take-out from the same 4 places can get old, and expensive. Plus some nights, or for us most nights of the week, you won't feel like going out for dinner either. So while I won't say it can make your marriage complete, it might make things a lot smoother. If you're not much of a cook, or you're always looking for new recipes, here's my recipe for creamy tomato chicken ziti.

Ingredients:
16 oz. box of ziti or penne rigatoni
8 oz. cream cheese
Frozen spinach
1 bag of Mozzarella
1 bag of pre-cooked chicken(you can find it near the lunchmeat in your store)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce(I like mushroom and green pepper)
Salt & pepper

• Boil your pasta as directed on box.
• Put cream cheese and spaghetti sauce in skillet. Make sure you add the cream cheese slowly.
• Put frozen spinach in microwave to defrost. Squeeze the liquid out in a colander.
• Add mozzarella slowly to the sauce.
• Put chicken in the microwave for a minute, cut up smaller.
• Add chicken, spinach, and cooked pasta.
• Salt and pepper to taste. Voila!

Young Love

   As most of y'all already know Dillon and I met pretty young. Not in preschool or anything haha, more like our teens.
     I did some research on the average ages of marriage in America from different decades. As you might have assumed 1950 had the youngest average age, being 20 for women and 24 for men. As of 2010 those numbers are now about 27 for women and 28 for men, the highest ages on the charts(the chart dates from 1890 to 2010). Although it's worth noting that the averages in 1890 were 23 for women and 26 for men.
     I noticed something interesting on the chart. At no point did the men's average age for marriage dip below the women's. In fact there's only one time in which they're about 1 year in difference and that would be 2000. 25 for women and 26 for men. The percentage of women that marry at 18 was also higher than men, 6% and 2% respectively.
    I also looked up the statistics on divorce and I found the common 40% to 50% of first marriages will end in divorce. Lately though there has been a rise of studies disputing that percentage. In actuality the divorce rates have been declining since 1980, leaving them more realistically at 30% to 40%.
   Census.gov has a chart that was done in 2009 with marriage and divorce statistics by age group. With each age group you had a increased number of marriages and a increased number of divorces. The only two age groups where the divorce rate was lower than the age group before it was the 18 to 19 group and the 70 and over group. The marriage rates continued to go up too.    
   I'm curious about how many of those that marry at the average age of marriage today knew each other at the ages we knew each other. Maybe people are waiting longer to get married or perhaps they're just finding who they wanna be with later on.
    Dillon and I got married at almost 20(he turned 21 a few weeks later) and 18. We were younger than my parents when they got married( Dad was 26 and Mom was 22), and older than my mom's parents( Granddaddy was 19 and Nana was 17 1/2). I wonder where the next generation will be as far as marriage is concerned. Will the average continue to climb or will they slowly decrease? Only time shall tell.