Love in the Details...

To keep our marriage going strong, here are a few of my ideas, most of which are regular little things:

* COMPLIMENTS: Compliment each other all the time. Reaffirm that we are happy to be married to each other.

* GREETINGS: We try to drop what we're doing, stand up and great each other when one of us comes home (usually when he comes from work). Even if it takes a few seconds to wrap-up the immediate activity, I stop as soon as possible and great him, look at him in the eyes, smile, give him a kiss before returning to my activity. I really appreciate it when he does the same for me. I feel valued, appreciated, and special.

* READ TOGETHER: Read a chapter of a book together one day a week (even if it's just before we go to bed). We've tried a variety of materials, fiction, non-fiction, church-related. It gives us a chance to talk about interesting ideas with each other, as they come up when we're reading.

* JOURNAL: We keep a family/marriage journal, and we record special love-notes or notes of appreciation inside. That way we can each read it and remember how we feel about each other.

* COOK: Cook meals together without a recipe, improvising with random ingredients. He was reluctant at first, but now he enjoys the end products and cooks more often for both of us.

* CLEAN: Clean with energetic music on, and race to see how fast we can get them done!

TWO FUN DATES:
* Watch a movie rental on a laptop in the park (cheap, and has the "going out" feel when I'm too tired to do much).

* We signed up for a credit card that gives points for free hotel stays. We took a one-night vacation to a nearby location, acted like tourists, and visited some of our early-date locations. This was a big event to celebrate a major achievement in our marriage, and it also was rejuvenating to remember where we were and what we felt before we got married.

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