In my people-observations, a happy marriage happens when couples don’t treat each other like spouses.
The happiest twosomes don’t act as if the other person. One is not an appendage of the other they can abuse at will, overworking it to the point of pain. People content in long-term relationships behave as they did when first meeting.
When a person attracts you into a friendship, your best foot keeps getting put forward. You want them to recognize the finest parts of yourself. Those perfect feet are out there, obscuring the real, not so enjoyable parts from bubbling to the surface.
By the time that new person figures out the hidden you, they’re hooked on your innate goodness. The non-admirable parts we all have are pushed away into I’ll-accept-your-flaws-if-you-accept-mine
Happy Marriages are a Good Idea
Joyously married people, rather, treat each other like a fresh discovery, like they’re unwrapping a birthday present and seeing what’s inside for the first time. My sister Jackie and John have been married for nearly forty years. They drive each other nuts. There is abundant humor. They push each other’s buttons. There is unquestioning support.
They have their moments where one goes for a walk to get away from air the other isn’t contaminating. But whether in the world or alone, they treat each other with respect, kindness, and generosity.
Jackie, in response to the question of how does she think they stay married, once stated, “We wake up every day, look at each other and say, Yes, I want to do this again.” What a remarkable choice to make.
Being happy in any relationship is about making the conscious choice to be present in it, to actively participate with your spouse, friend, sibling—whatever role that person plays. You cannot phone-in the behavior needed to be happy with someone. You have to be fully engaged and fully giving.
A Happy Marriage is not about Grand Gestures
The Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus book talks about how men always think a gift must involve an over the top gesture. It doesn’t. Listen to me as I repeat this, Fellows, Most women don’t have to have the biggest, the most expensive, the most flamboyant whatever it is currently in vogue.
Am I saying that you never get your woman a special gift? Of course not. Thinking through something your lady would like. Whether it’s the backpack you surprised her with (in green, of course) or the latest Michael Connelly novel—is important. If jewels are her thing, by all means indulge. Rather, I’m talking about the opportunities men often miss to give a simple item:
- colorful cut flowers from your yard slipped into a vase and placed on the dining room table,
- the potted Primrose my husband brings home from the grocery store each spring,
- a sweet note left on the table before you walk out the door for work,
- taking over a chore you both hate but that she does more often than you do—
- any time you stop to think what might please her and thoughtfully execute that thing …
… you’re on solid ground for great giving.
Little Things can be Relationship Deal Breakers
They let your woman know she is thought about and sometimes that is the most critical thing for us—the being thought of. Small gestures, added up over time, create a loving atmosphere. When my husband attends a trade show and picks up swag in the form of a pair of green-rimmed sunglasses, I know he was thinking of me. If he returns from a business trip to find his favorite homemade cookies in the cupboard, he knows I was thinking of him. Neither of those given items are pricey, but the thought behind them is love-driven.
My Knight in Shining Armor gift book (new edition coming soon) is for women to show appreciation for the things their man does for them. The slips of paper are for us ladies to acknowledge, to be thankful for the little or big things. Every woman has told me she is happy to use it to say thank you when so often she has forgotten to to so.
Being happy in any relationship has two other components: liking the other person as their own entity and liking how being with that person makes you feel. They go hand in hand. If the other person is giving and kind, then you feel like a person who wants to give from her heart with kindness.
A Happy Union Means Caring
Having a happy marriage means caring about what is important to the other person.
Do you have to be joined at the hips and do everything together? In my opinion, no. Writer-me would go insane if Alex was firmly attached to my side (let alone what that would do to loner-him). Even if you are a woman who likes your man around a lot, you have to support the husband who enjoys a day of gaming with his friends or walking up mountain sides with only the dog for company. This time away from you means time for you. You get to indulge in your favorite pastimes, those separate things that keep you being you in a relationship involving two people.
Everyone of us wants to feel we are going through life contributing value to the world and especially to those people closest to us. How do you let your significant other—or family and friends!—know their importance?
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Read: My husband & his adventures in water. Sigh.
What a nice take on marriage. I too love when my husband does small things like bringing flowers. I do feel good that he was thinking about me. I once heard someone say that your husband shouldn’t be the guy who just sweeps you away. He should be the one who makes the best partner. And after 7 years of good marriage, I think that to be true.
We’re only 7 years into this marriage, too, Erica and more and more I know it is the little things. Like bringing me another $.98 Primrose from Home Depot on Saturday. I love them in the house now and then every spring add them to our Primrose Lane.
Sweeping me away? Pah, who needs it? 🙂
As always, a lovely, life-affirming post RoseMary! Kindness is non-negotiable. Laughter too – although sometimes it can be in short supply depending on what life throws at you but if you have a shared sense of humour then it’s always there to fall back on.
Couldn’t agree more that laughter is the BEST. If my husband didn’t make me laugh–or me him–we’d have split a long time ago. I’m convinced that our love of laughing at stuff or at each other has led us to a better relationship!
Great post, Rose. I, too, think that kindness is a key component that I look for in any person, for if he/she is kind, they are likely to be honest and someone I would like to know better. What happens after that is a bonus!
You’re right, Doreen, kindness is a valuable trait in any person we allow into our lives. You have it in spades!
I think of, literally, how many times my husband has picked me up off the floor and comforted me in all of the trials and I am so thankful for him. He has always, always been there for me and I can only hope that I have returned that in some way to him. Marriage is not always easy for sure and I do think you have to make the conscious decision, at times, to not run away. He is my best bud and wow, does he ever make me laugh. Thanks for the Happy Anniversary wishes…it is coming on the 20th!! We were married on a gorgeous fall day in PA….the air was crisp and clear and the leaves were beautiful. I thank God for blessing our marriage! Two super kids, a daughter-in-law, an awesome son-in-law and two grandchildren that melt my heart!
Seester, being comforted is among the highest kindnesses that we can share with one another as people. And laughing…is there a balm for a soul as rich and lovely as laughing so hard with someone that you both get belly aches?
Great post, Rosemary! Great observations, Jenny. I think it’s true that the consistent small kindnesses really contribute to a good and appreciative partnership. And laughter/humor! And never taking each other for granted. I also think about Maya Angelou’s comment – pertaining to your children, but I think it also is applicable to your spouse – “Do your eyes light up when s/he enters the room?” HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Jackie and John.
Oh yes, Karen, to the eyes shining with love! This is another observation and one that rings true again and again. As a Griffith, I agree that there can never be enough laughter!
How timely, my friend! Yes, what Jenny said (so well, I might add). It’s sticking together in the good times and the bad. And so much more! In only 8 days, I will be joining the ranks with the love of my life!!! I’ll let you know in 50 years if I was right. 🙂
And I hope you have fifty years to figure it out, Patty!
It’s thinking about the other person before thinking of yourself. When Ryan does the dishes or does laundry or cooks dinner or stops at the store…especially when I know it isn’t easy for him…it means the world to me…I know he’s thinking of me and of us before he’s thinking about himself. To me…that is love and a partnership worth fighting for each and every day.
Yes, Jenny, I think you have said it very well. Thinking of the other, thinking of the entity of you together, before thinking of yourself–this is critical to a successful relationship.