An important key to a happy marriage is balance and compromise, as it will only last as long as both are happy. I have seen plenty of friends become a shell of a man and live life by the “happy wife, happy life” motto, giving up all that used to be important and now becoming this robot, just going through the motions of life. While I refused to become that version of myself, it is completely understandable that changes will be made once you have a significant other, but you need to hold on to a piece of yourself. Now before it looks bad thinking that I do not want my wife to be happy, that cannot be further from the truth. I want her to be happy, as well as myself, and us together as a couple, and hopefully our match.com days are far behind us!
Make Time for Each Other
It may seem like common sense but it can actually be difficult to spend quality time together. Life is pretty busy during the week when it comes to our job and activities that the Old School line about having a “pretty nice little Saturday” at Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond, spending with your significant other can actually be a lot of fun, even it if just eating out and doing some shopping for the house on a Saturday afternoon. Keeping this closeness and time together is important in a relationship, and I know it makes my wife happy when I wake up early on a Saturday and take her to the farmer’s market downtown, lunch at a new restaurant she has been wanting to try, and running errands across town for items she needs to pick up. Spending time with friends is also very important to me, so me wanting to spend an evening out with the guys is never an issue because she knows that we make quality time together, and if we are hanging out with friends one night, we will spend the other together.
Even on a Football Sunday
I love football as much as anyone, and in a playoff push right now with my Detroit Lions in the midst of trying to win their first division title since 1993, all of my focus is on that, but there still needs to be a little balance. Fortunately, my wife likes football, so spending my entire Sunday watching typically is not an issue anyways, but as we are just about to announce our pregnancy on Christmas cards, we needed a little impromptu photo shoot this afternoon (after the Lions won their 9th victory and currently sitting in the 2nd playoff position) that my brother-in-law did not know that he would be shooting in the middle of a snowstorm. First requiring me to shower on a Sunday, something that is hit or miss depending on the night before, and dress up a bit, the pictures turned out really nice and my wife worked on her Shutterfly account to get the order just right. If you take the time without hesitation to be involved, offer opinions, and work together as a team, everything will run smoothly.