I Love...My Marriage

I Love My Marriage

It's been a yucky strep-filled couple of days, but we're all starting to feel human again.

When I'm sick, I tend to think more emotionally. Maybe it's a girl thing. I don't know. That combined with my month of "love", has had me thinking about my marriage. When I'm sick, my sweet husband is always so good to me. No matter how much he has on his own plate, he always makes time to take care of me and takes over my responsibilities until I can manage again. Needless to say, he has A LOT on his plate right now. So, watching him juggle everything has filled my heart with gratitude and love for him.

As I write this, I think of some of the people I love most in this life. They are going at this crazy thing called 'life' alone right now. So, when I write about my marriage, I want you to know that I'm aware of you. I have been there. And I hope that by reading about my life, you'll realize that good things will come. There is always hope. And there are still REALLY GREAT cutie-cuties out there, just waiting to find you!!

When I think about marriage, I think about hearts, flowers and big smiley faces ALL THE TIME!!

Because marriage to Ricky is PERFECT and NEVER EVER hard.

hahahaha!
 Ohhhh...the beloved gut giggles begin...

While I have a very happy marriage, it is not a perfect marriage.
I've learned that there is a difference.

I've seen this quote a lot lately and I love it.

"I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion. Any man who will make his wife's comfort his first concern will stay in love with her throughout their lives and through the eternity yet to come."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Isn't that powerful? And aren't the Hinckley's the cutest? 

I love it! It reminds my of my own sweet husband and what he's done for me this week.

Marriage will NEVER be easy ALL the time. It's not supposed to be. 

I believe that it's full of challenges, tricky things you have to work out, and just plain hard times.

But I also believe that those things are so vitally important.

When I think about my marriage, I think about how much I have learned from the challenges we've faced. I am grateful for those things. We've had to face a lot of things together, and we are stronger because of it. 

As I've thought about that quote, I've thought about how I do as a wife. How wonderful would it be to always make Ricky's happiness and comfort my first concern? I would like to think that I always do this, but then reality sets in and slaps me hard, and I realize that I can ALWAYS improve in this area. That is my goal right now. To make sure that I find ways to let him know how much I love him. Sometimes I get so caught up in taking care of the kids, and the house, and everything in between, that I sometimes feel like I don't have enough left to give to him. I know you girls know EXACTLY what I'm saying here. Because we all do it!

But, in the end, he is the one I'll have left.

So, right now I love things that help me focus on my sweetie.

Like the month of "LOVE".

If you are reading this, then maybe we can do it together! Let's share the love with our cutie-cuties! It doesn't really take much. Just a little bit of time, some extra attention, but mainly it starts with the thought of wanting to love him even more.

And wanting him to know that.

So, Ricky......if you are reading this.....know how much I adore you.

I have learned a great deal from Ricky. One of the things he always says is that it's a CHOICE to love someone. And it's a choice you have to make over and over again. There are no perfect spouses. There are no perfect marriages. There are dreams of a perfect spouse and a perfect marriage, but then that darn reality sets in again and you realize that it's just like everything else. It requires work, forgiveness, patience, a willingness to listen and to learn. It requires more giving than taking and a great deal of love.

I am grateful for a husband who lives those principles and contributes so much to my happy marriage.

We're not perfect... 

But, we sure are happy.

I love him...because I choose to.

And I'm so happy that I've been smart enough to do so!!

I LOVE YOU BIG DADDY!!