Love and Marriage

As Valentine's has just passed and my Wedding Anniversary draws near, my husband and I are all lovey-dovey. You know the kind, the one that makes your kids groan and say "eeeewwwww!" So, when my church was holding a marriage seminar for the women a week before Valentine's, it was not high on my priority list. There are so many other things to do with my time and I was curious as to who would be the "expert" on marriage. My husband and I are not perfect but he's my best friend and we put each other first. We are doing good.

He made me go.

Not because he thought we needed it but because the men in our church were strongly encouraged to support their wives going and my husband was trying to set a good example for others. So, I dragged my mother-in-law who lives down the street with me because if I was going she could go to. She had my same concern on "expert." We might be experts on our own marriage and have some tips but the only people who can be an expert on any marriage are the people married to each other.

It was good. They had 2 speakers and both talked about the little things we do that make a big difference. They talked a lot about the love languages and truly accepting and understanding what each other needs. They gave us fancier paper and said to write a love note.

Talking about writing a love note with my husband, we ended up disagreeing. He had kept a note I had forgotten I had written from 2008. It wasn't a love note. I still can't remember the circumstances. It brought up unhappy feelings for him and we rehashed old family differences. So the night before Valentine's day, we didn't go to bed exactly happy. After we finished our "discussion," he went downstairs and shredded the note. After he fell asleep, I wrote him a proper love note.

We had one the best Valentine's Days ever. He loved the new note, even more after he found out I wrote it post-"discussion." I made a candlelit dinner for five; my children's eyes initially widened when they saw the table. You are never too young to learn how to set the table for really special occasions. We even had dancing-Dance Party 3 Wii game was my gift to the family. My youngest and I rock at "This is Halloween" song.

Love is letting go of past wrongs, going the extra mile for small things and big things alike and celebrating whenever you can.

And being lovey-dovey every day to make your kids groan with horror but really having them know that mom and dad love each other.