Happy February, friends! I admit it: I could take or leave Valentine’s Day festivities, but every year I do appreciate this month’s reminder to focus on something that’s an essential component of a happy home – love.
Today I thought I’d share a few of our favorite posts from the archives about romance, marriage, and partnership.
On celebrating marriages over anniversaries:
“The truth is, we marry the same person just once (okay, if you’re us, twice.) And no matter how lovely the wedding was, as time goes on it grows smaller and fuzzier and less important in the rear-view mirror. What remains clear, life-sized, crucial, critical – is the day-to-day choice to be married, to celebrate your marriage, to honor your spouse. On both the the downtown-hotel, dinner-plans and Prosecco-sipping days and the grocery-shopping, laundry-folding and pouring-yet-another-glass-of-milk days.”
Real married-with-kids romance:
“If I’ve learned anything about marriage, it’s that the “special” days, the dressed-up dates, the anniversaries, the dinner-and-a-movie nights are nice…but they aren’t what really matters, what really makes a marriage. It’s the hug in the morning after he snored all night and you’re pretty sure your breath smells like the garbage disposal, the midnight baby hand-off, the disciplinary back-up with the surly teen, the long kiss in the midst of craziness, the caress on a belly so stretched out by pregnancies that you aren’t sure how anyone could not be repulsed by it, the text just to say hello.”
Six ways to let go of resentments, move past old hurts, and forgive.
“Of course, knowing we’re imperfect too doesn’t mean it’s always easy to move past resentment–far from it. We are all different, and I don’t think there’s any one-size-fits-all process. But I believe you can strengthen your forgiveness muscle, if you’re willing to be open, ask yourself tough questions, and most important, just keep trying. Here are some things I find help me shift my perspective.”
Ready to focus even more on LOVE this month? Join me at Live: Creating A Life You Love, a fantastic program I’m participating in with Mandi Ehman of LifeYourWay.net. February’s theme is – wait for it – LOVE, and I’m thrilled to be the guest expert for the month. The program is jam-packed with written posts, downloadables and printables, podcasts, vlogs and a private discussion community. I’ll be writing more about Live this month, but if you join today you’ll have immediate access to all of my posts, an audio conversation between Mandi and me, and a whole lot more. Check it out!
