ON CONFLICT
"I've learned that when your wife vents about work/friends/life, don't offer up solutions to her problems, just listen and say 'That sucks, I'm sorry, I understand."
"Having serious conversations while drunk doesn't help."
"While it's great to make her a dinner, also then cleaning up and doing the dishes makes up for any shortcomings."
ON THE LITTLE THINGS
"Even if your wife looks a little sexier in high heels sometimes your life will be better at the end of the night if she wears flats instead. Or split the difference and suggest wedges."
"One thing I've learned from being married is the importance of a one-minute hug with your wife everyday. After one minute of hugging everything doesn't seem so bad."
"My wife loves to play softball. I'm okay at best, so I don't play much anymore. I choose to attend all her games when I'm home because I know how much it means to her to just have me be there. Admittingly, I could easily fill that time with 1000 other things, but none of those things will better our relationship as much as me being present at her games."
"Never re-arrange the living room furniture while the wife is out. I asked a buddy for interior design tips and we re-arranged the first floor of my tiny house. When the wife came home, she freaked out because 1) she hated what we did and 2) because she wasn't a part of the process. Always make the woman a part of the process!"
ON SEX
"Always use massage oil when she asks you for a massage. It's more fun for you and it's more likely things could go places."
"Making sure that in-between the sheets I'm not necessarily the first or only person well...finishing."
"The quality of sex ebbs and flows..there is no getting around it. It won't remain hot, hot, hot all the time but, that's ok because when it is mind-blowing (like in the early parts of your relationship) it blows the doors off anything before and a new bar is set."
AND FINALLY,...
"Allow your partner to be weird. I meditate in the morning, she reads crime news before bed, I love digging into financial reports on Friday night, she loves HGTV. I sit in silence in hotel rooms without TV or music, she loves random dance parties by herself. Lots of weird going on between us."
"She will never be the exact same girl you married and that is cool because she could get more awesome and sexy as she ages (which is what happened to me)."
Related:
15 Things You're Over-analyzing in Your Relationship
What I Learned from Getting Divorced
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