I recently moved in with my husband after living apart for a decade. The mundane home tasks are more fun together than alone.

• It was easier for me to get along with my spouse when we didn't live in the same house.
• We're each not-so-secretly sure that our way is the right way.

It's a lot easier to get along with your spouse when you don't live in the same house. That's my biggest takeaway after two months of living with my husband full time.

We've been married since 2018 — and committed to one another since 2010 — but we've only recently become roommates. Previously, we maintained separate homes about a mile apart from one another.

We moved in together because the economic arguments for marriage remain. It's significantly cheaper to maintain one household instead of two. It's also awfully nice to divide and conquer the household chores.

I expected a few challenges when I moved in. After all, my husband lived like a bachelor for most of the 2000s. And I'd been on my own — with my four sons — since 2009. Neither of us had previously experienced success or satisfaction living with a spouse. Our previous marriages were marred by dysfunction.

We figured, though, that our decade together gave us an advantage. After more than 10 years together, my husband and I know each other well. I know his weaknesses, he knows mine, and we love each other anyway.

I didn't expect our relationship to change when my address did. And yet, we've learned a few things about one another.

He's quick to jump to conclusions, and I still carry emotional baggage

My husband is used to being in control of his environment. When he lived alone, things tended to stay wherever he put them. Now, when something is out of place, he's quick to assume that "someone took it!" And 99% of the time, he's wrong.

He's learning, gradually, to slow his roll.

I thought I'd learned a lot about emotional control and conflict management. I've been pretty even-keeled in recent years — the result, I thought, of years of therapy and introspection. I was proud of the mostly peaceful home I'd created for myself and my boys, and I believed I'd grown beyond my emotionally stunted childhood and unsuccessful first marriage.

But then we had a fight.

It was one of those standard fights about nothing, but I felt his anger and irritation and responded by pulling away, going quiet, and anxiously monitoring his body language and tone of voice. My sense of unease remained long after we discussed and settled the underlying issue, and I realized that my emotional reaction was an automatic response that had little to do with the current situation.

I'm approaching 50 years old, but emotionally, I'm still a toddler in many ways.

It's painful to realize that I have yet to develop healthy conflict-resolution skills, but I'm trying.

We both think we're right and know we're better together

During our living-apart years, we each developed certain routines and habits, and we're each not-so-secretly sure that our way is the right way.

I'm a bit of a dreamer, while my husband is a realist. We're both flawed humans who muddle through each day as best we can.

But when we muddle together, we can take advantage of our combined skills. He can manage home maintenance — his strong suit, given that he previously worked in home construction. And I can focus on family health and safety — a great fit for me, a former nurse turned writer.

The mundane tasks of daily life are simply more fun when we're together, and neither of us takes this partnership for granted. I'm lucky to live with my best friend, and so is he.