A wise man chooses to live happily with his choices.

Let me toss some numbers at you. At the ages of 20 and 26, my husband and I have been married 11 months, have 2 cats, 1 dog and have decided to move into a 3 bedroom 1 bath house with my 2 parents. How long will we survive? This is a bit like the word problems your 8^th grade math teacher gave you, except in this case I’ve found no answers, not one solution, and no one is applauding me for demonstrating this particular equation. Please put your eyebrows back into place, quit your giggles and let me talk you into this the same way we talked ourselves into it…with a little bit of something my husband likes to call “crazy talk.”

Point 1: This arrangement is perfectly acceptable and I assume successful in many well developed parts of the world such as Asia and South America. There are thousands of brilliant women who have decided to abandon privacy for the possibility of financial freedom. We shall stand united in our struggle to share one bathroom, one stove, one phone line, one thermostat with zero fatalities! This is what I call my “global support.”

Point 2: We do not plan on staying under one roof forever, just as long as it takes my husband and me to save enough money for a down payment on our own home. We plan to be of great service while we are here by splitting the household bills AND taking on a number of projects that need a cool splash of young energy to make it out of the planning stage, where they’ve been stored for a number of years. These are our “good intentions.”

Point 3: We will rid ourselves of all worldly possessions that are not absolutely necessary and organize what is left into closets, onto shelves, and under beds. We will take all the time you require to explain why three game systems and a small personal library are under the “absolutely necessary” column and we will not shout when you do not understand. This is our “plan.”

This is an experiment in sanity, happiness, and faith. Whether or not it proves to be financially beneficial, I’m confident it will make for great writing material!

I want to end with one of my favorite verses. This speaks to me not because I feel inadequate because I am young, but because I am told I am inadequate because I am young. Don't doubt my decision simply because you wouldn't have made it. But pray for me in the hopes that it was the right choice and I have the courage and stamina to see it through.

¹²Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)