January 7, 2016
Respect And Encouragement Work Better Than Nagging


I've been happily married for 25 years.  When we were first married, someone told me it was really important to point out things that bothered me about my new husband right away so as not to let things "marinate" and then become bigger issues.  I shared this thought with my wise husband, and he said "It's going to be a really long, unhappy marriage if we're going to focus on the negative.  I prefer that we accept the fact that neither of us is perfect, and we're going to do thing that might irritate the other.  Instead, let's focus on all the qualities that we love about each other, and the little annoyances will fade over time."

Well, here we are 25 years later and he was so right.  I feel loved every day of my life, and we approach each day knowing that the other one is putting forth his or her best effort.  Sometimes it's not 100%, but we get there almost all the time.  Did I get bad advice all those years ago?  I think so, and we live by the idea that we're all in this together at all times.  We look forward to sending our son to college knowing full well that he was raised in a home where two people respect, encourage and love each other deeply.

Juliet


Posted by Staff at 10:59 AM