Things I Learned From My Parents

This is a post penned by Ashley at Making Our Marx, talking about what she has learned from her parents and their 25 years of marriage!

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Today my parents are celebrating 25 years of marriage.

In our day, I'd say this is a pretty big freaking deal!

I love them so much, and I'm so blessed. I didn't even realize how blessed I was until high school, when I heard people talking about their parents fighting or getting divorced. I didn't know all couples weren't madly in love like Allison and John. They are the best examples to me! I consider myself lucky-I've been able to observe their habits and interactions for the past 22 years, so I think I entered my marriage with some pretty good ideas of what to do. Here are some of the observations I've taken of my parents and their happy marriage.

Make Your Long Distance Relationship Work

Hello! 

My name is Deidre and I blog over at Love, The Skinnys. Let me tell you a little about my husband and I...we are busy people. My husband, Adam, has been in Arizona and Montana living his baseball dream. And while he is there I have been in Utah and Idaho working my dream job and volunteering for Miss Idaho. We aren't in the typcial long distance relationship because we aren't just dating...we are married. But the same rules and feelings apply. Time apart is hard, but it doesn't have to be impossible. Here are some tips from our relationship that has made the time apart easier. We are keeping the spark alive through our long distance dating. And I truly believe our relationship will only be stronger when he comes back.

1. Save Your Conversation. 

Don't text all day, every day. Save your conversation for a nightly phone call. When you spend all day texting each other you will have nothing to say at night. During the day we will text each other questions, funny things that come up, quick snippets or a story that needs to be told while talking, and quick I love yous... but we are careful to share EVERY detail of our day throughout the day. We want to have meaningful conversation at night, not just a phone call because it "should happen". 

What I Learned In My First Year of Marriage

Jen from the blog T & Me just hit her one year anniversary on June 9th and shared some wisdom on her blog of what she has learned from her first year of marriage :)

1. Teamwork
You always need to remember that you and your husband are on the same team. You have the same goals. You want the same things in life. So don't try to be a winner. You are on the same team!

2. Date Nights
This is a very important thing. Even though Tony and I still spend a lot of time together at home, we need to get out and do stuff. We go to the movies (mostly dollar movies), we get dinner, go shopping, sight seeing, long drives, basically anything where we can get out and have a formal date.

Unity & Service in Marriage

Hey everyone! 

My name is Allyson Macy from Keeping Up With the Macys. I have only been married for about 6 months, but I feel that in the short time I’ve had with my husband, I have gained invaluable experience that is worth sharing!

Two of the most life-altering lessons I’ve learned in my marriage are:

1) Unity in decision-making gives us confidence in our identity and future as a married couple 

 2) service toward one another is a powerful healing and strengthening agent.

Unity
The first thing my husband and I decided when we got engaged is that it is no longer “my life” and “his life,” but “OUR life.” Since then, we have always tried to make decisions together, with the other’s desires and needs in careful consideration.

An important aspect of unity is teamwork. My husband makes most of the money, but I feel like I am an important member in our marriage when he includes me in financial decisions and genuinely values my opinions. He lets me know that even though I don’t make as much as he does, I contribute in other ways and deserve an equal say in any decision-making process. As we work together to plan our future through financial, spiritual, and other decisions, we design a life that each of us is able to enjoy and look forward to every day.

Relationship Lessons Learned: This Little Blonde

Hey there loves! I'm Brooklyn, and I am the crazy lady behind This Little Blonde.

On May 21, 2013 I got engaged to the man of my dreams. Considering he was my first ever boyfriend, he's been my guinea pig in a lot of ways! So today I want to share 3 things I have learned about healthy relationships from my fiance whom I refer to as Mr. Jolley. (Pretty great name to marry into right?)