Dating Dan (still!)

Not long ago, I had back to back trips across the continent to help my siblings with their kids. It took me away from Dan for more than two weeks. Those two weeks were hard. Phone calls are great and all, but I longed to be with my person. I missed our spontaneous silly adventures. Like when we slept out on our balcony just for fun. Or when we met at a carnival just to walk around together after a long day apart. Or walked the pier just to spend time together. Or camped in our living room.

We agreed to plan a really fun date for when I got home.

I am so grateful for Dan. I'm grateful that he is willing to keep dating me.

So many marriages fail in today's society. According to Dr. John M. Gottman's theory, this is because they don't nurture their friendship. I can see truth in this. If you have lost the friendship with your spouse, when the struggles surface, there is less of a desire to understand things from their perspective, less of a desire to help lift their load and less desire to council together. You begin to lead parallel lives instead of working together to co-pilot your life together.

To avoid so many struggles that come form the challenges that every relationship encounters, you MUST date your spouse. You must set aside time regularly to nurture and strengthen your bond with one another. A marriage does not stay strong by happenstance. It has to be intentional. Life changes and you change as you move through it. You have to continue to get to know one another.

You don't have to spend a ton of money. Your dates don't have to be extravagant. You don't have to even necessarily leave the house. As President Uchtdorf taught, "In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e"! That is what really matters- that we put in the time.