I met my wife five years ago. We moved in together and had a daughter three years ago. Today, Maria and I have been married for one whole year.

It may not sound like a big deal, especially since the kid came well before the wedding, but surviving the first year of marriage is still a monumental accomplishment for us. While the first two years of living together were filled with growing pains and figuring out how best to care for a baby, the first year of marriage felt more like a discovery of how we would live as a couple and family.

I found that a lot of my changes came through subtraction in the last year rather than addition. The simple things like food, raiment and shelter became important items while the wants and personal desires dwindled. Of course, living through the recession and a shrinking income helps trim those wants and desires as well.

After my daughter was born, I cut my drinking habit in half. It only took me a couple whiskey hangovers to realize booze is not your best friend when the baby is crying. In the last couple months, the income shrunk and the bills did not. I cut my drinking in half again. I've actually starting having multiple booze-free days during the week. It had been a many a year since that was the case. I can't say I feel much healthier yet, but I don't miss it either. There's still booze on the weekends.

A month after I got married, I got back on the theatre wagon again. I directed a couple plays, acted in a movie and two other theatre productions in the span of eight months. It burned me out. It burned my wife out, and even daughter Donna began to miss me. It's now been three months since my last project, and I don't miss it much. I still need the artistic output every now and again, but there needs to be a good balance between work, family and hobbies. Our worst fights occurred when that balance was lacking.

I think I'm losing my hair too. No wait, it's all right. Nope, I'm losing it. It's definitely thinner, but am I losing it? I think so. It feels like it. Oh, whatever.

The biggest loss this year has been the weight on my wife. We've always exercised, either running or kicking a soccer ball or something, but she still wasn't losing the baby weight from two years before. Even I was starting to wonder if the tried and true ‘diet and exercise' plan was really tried and true. Then she starting losing weight, trimming up here and there. Her legs became leaner from the bottom up. Her midsection shrunk gradually through the year. Not only is she back to her pre-baby weight, she has lost over 45 lbs. altogether since getting married last year. Most couples try to look their best on their wedding day (and we did), but I can say both of us are much healthier now than when we said ‘I do.'

With all the cut backs, simplifying and weight loss, there is one thing that has remained in abundance: our love. Maria loves me more than anyone else in the world and she proves it all the time. I do my best to return that love to her just as much. Times get tough, work and our daughter can wear us down to exhaustion, and surviving each week seems like a serious challenge sometimes, but if we keep the love going like we have, everything we'll be just fine for many married years to come.

Year One is done for the Jungles's married life, but really, we've just begun. What fun!

Chris Jungle never thought he would gain so much by subtraction.