Marriage can mean many things to many people.

But most would agree that it means that one person has chosen you above all others.

So it surprises me when people take that honour and twist it into something negative.

Like a former colleague I recently bumped into.

I hadn’t seen her for quite a while, but I heard through the office grapevine (turns out you can move halfway across the world, travel for a year and return to a tiny Queensland town and the office grapevine can still track you down) that she had recently gotten married.

Now this person is probably best described as an acquired taste, but she has a good heart and it turns out that someone out there made it past the brash exterior to the sweet person inside.

But when I congratulated her on her recent nuptials, she didn’t thank me.

Oh no.

“I know, I can’t believe someone was actually stupid enough to marry me!” she exclaimed. (A little loudly, but that’s just her.)

And she is not alone.

My own father found it hard to believe that someone would want to choose me.

When Alex asked my dad for permission to marry me (cute, I know) my dad quickly said yes.

But he followed it up with an: “Are you sure?”

Seriously.

My own father.

Like being married to me was asking to be voluntarily stabbed with needles. Repeatedly.

Dad was just joking (I hope) but having someone choose you, learning that someone wants you out of all the others out there, is no laughing matter.

It’s special and should be treated as such.

Because while there is no such thing as the perfect person, there is such a thing as someone who is perfect for you.

Seriously.

Think about it.

People who like to bump uglies while dressed as furry animals manage to find each other.

Men who started life as women find women to spend their lives with and vice versa.

For goodness sake, Shane Warne found someone.

And chances are you are a lot more normal than any of those people.

I am flighty, fanciable, financially irresponsible, impulsive, stubborn and afraid of clowns. (Seriously, they are evil)

Obviously not my best qualities.

But when you stop being on your best behaviour – and let’s face it, no one can act perfect forever – it’s the parts that you’d rather keep secret which have a way of working out if someone is really meant for you or not.

Alex is grounded, practical, great at budgeting (which is a nice way of saying tight), thoughtful, patient and fabulous at allaying irrational fears.

In other words, perfect for me. Just like my penchant to fly off on tangents makes me perfect for him.

So if someone has decided you are their version of perfection and in them you find what you’ve always looked for, then don’t cheapen it by putting it down.

Because there are plenty of people who could probably keep me warm at night.

But there is only one that I’ve found who is able to keep the evil clowns and all my other fears at bay and still let me pretend that I’m queen of the world.