Skip to main content

Simple Rules for a Happy Marriage

Twenty-four years ago, I married the most wonderful man in the world.  He's smart, funny, strong in his religious convictions, a great dad to our kids, and we share the same goals.  We are experts only on our own marriage, but here are some thoughts that have worked for us:

1.  Always assume that the other person means well.  When I built the dog house in the basement, requiring John to remove the sliding door in order to get the doghouse to the backyard, he just smiled and thanked me for helping him. 

2. "Working" on your marriage means making play a priority.  We faithfully have a weekly date night.  When I spent over a month in the hospital, date night consisted of John bringing me real, non-hospital food and we'd watch a movie on the TV. 

3. Communication is key.  John has learned to understand "womenese".  I have learned to speak more directly.  We both know that if either one of us says, "We really should..." it means, "Would you please...?" 

4.  Do your share, which means don't keep score.  If you notice a job needs doing, do it.  John and I decided shortly after the birth of our first, that whoever smells the dirty diaper first, changes the baby.  It worked well for us.

5.  Don't complain about your spouse.  One of my pet peeves is hearing a woman complain about her husband, or vice versa.  John is my best friend.  He never complains about me.  I know he is human, and therefore must be imperfect, but he is perfect for me.

We have made so many memories over the past 24 years.  Sometimes, our path has taken unexpected twists and turns, but we have traveled the path together.  I'm looking forward to the next 24 years.

I love you, John!

Comments

  1. All sounds like common sense, but sadly often goes unheeded. Seems like nowadays, 24 years of marriage is practically unheard of. With your philosophy, sounds like you have many more years ahead together. :) [#TALU]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great advice! Sounds like you have a wonderful man. We are both lucky in that department. =)

    TALU!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Conversations are so much nicer when more than one person does the talking. :-) Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things of Thankful: Autumn Edition

It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year.  I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.  

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

  Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago.  I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon.  (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall  Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this