Describe ways that make you and your spouse closer

[SnowWhite924]

Lately, my H and I have been spending alot of alone time together. We spent a weekend at a Couple's Resort, we spent another night home alone without the kids and went out to dinner, we went to a wedding (without the kids) and danced and talked about our hot love session the other nite!

 

I'm feeling a lot closer to him and I'm loving it!

 

Would love to hear from others, different ways that make you and your spouse bond, closer, etc...

[blair08]

Having date nights, and/or away time together.

[jwi71]

Time together.

Walk in the park holding hands

Date night.

Taking part in activities together.

Forget money.

[quankanne]

finding silly things to laugh about. We moved my dad in with us over the summer, so finding private time has been more of a challenge because of my dad's needs and the stuff we've got to handle besides that. So to get DH for a few moments that aren't about bills or the house or caring for Dad, but just laughing are really, really nice.

[Curmudgeon]

Lately, my H and I have been spending alot of alone time together. We spent a weekend at a Couple's Resort, we spent another night home alone without the kids and went out to dinner, we went to a wedding (without the kids) and danced and talked about our hot love session the other nite!

 

I'm feeling a lot closer to him and I'm loving it!

 

Would love to hear from others, different ways that make you and your spouse bond, closer, etc...

 

Lots of ways. We just returned from a four-day weekend along California's northern coast and among the truly giant redwoods (350+ feet high). We periodically attend married couples weekend retreats conducted by the church. We talk together. We consult one another. We take almost daily walks together. We cook together. We're respectful and considerate of one another. We show our respective stepchildren that we love them by loving and being good to their parent. We don't differentiate between children and grandchildren. They're not his or hers. In terms of how we treat them they're all ours.

 

We perform little loving acts of kindness and romance one another daily in small but meaningful ways -- me setting up the coffee pot in the morning before I leave for work if my wife's slept in so all she has to do it turn it on. Her calling to tell me good morning and then meeting me at the door when I come home. A little note. Flowers just for nothing. Those types of things.

 

Then there's always SHMILY! Read on:

 

SHMILY - By Laura Jeanne Allen

 

My grandparents were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other.

 

The goal of their game was to write the word shmily" in a surprise place for the other to find. They took turns leaving "shmily" around the house, and as soon as one of them discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more. They dragged "shmily" with their fingers through the sugar and flour containers to await whoever was preparing the next meal.

 

They smeared it in the dew on the windows overlooking the patio where my grandma always fed us warm, homemade pudding with blue food coloring. "Shmily" was written in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, where it would reappear bath after bath.

 

At one point, my grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper to leave "shmily" on the very last sheet. There was no end to the places "shmily" would pop up.

Little notes with "shmily" scribbled hurriedly were found on dashboards and car seats, or taped to steering wheels.

 

The notes were stuffed inside shoes and left under pillows. "Shmily" was written in the dust upon the mantel and traced in the ashes of the fireplace.

 

This mysterious word was as much a part of my grandparents' house as the furniture. It took me a long time before I was able to fully appreciate my grandparents' game.

 

Skepticism has kept me from believing in true love-one that is pure and enduring. However, I never doubted my grandparents' relationship. They had love down pat. It was more than their flirtatious little games; it was a way of life.

 

Their relationship was based on a devotion and passionate affection, which not everyone is lucky enough to experience.

 

Grandma and Grandpa held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses as they bumped into each other in their tiny kitchen. They finished each other's sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble.

 

My grandma whispered to me about how cute my grandpa was, how handsome and old he had grown to be. She claimed that she really knew "how to pick 'em."

 

Before every meal they bowed their heads and gave thanks, marveling at their blessings: a wonderful family, good fortune, and each other. But there was a dark cloud in my grandparents' life: my grandmother had breast cancer.

 

The disease had first appeared ten years earlier. As always, Grandpa was with here every step of the way. He comforted her in their yellow room, painted that way so that she could always be surrounded by sunshine, even when she was too sick to go outside.

 

Now the cancer was again attacking her body. With the help of a cane and my grandfather's steady hand, they went to church every morning. But my grandmother grew steadily weaker until, finally, she could not leave the house anymore.

 

For a while, Grandpa would go to church alone, praying to God to watch over his wife. Then one day, what we all dreaded finally happened. Grandma was gone.

 

"Shmily." It was scrawled in yellow on the pink ribbons of my grandmother's funeral bouquet.

 

As the crowd thinned and the last mourners turned to leave, my aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members came forward and gathered around Grandma one last time.

 

Grandpa stepped up to my grandmother's casket and, taking a shaky breath, he began to sing to her. Through his tears and grief, the song came, a deep and throaty lullaby. Shaking with my own sorrow, I will never forget that moment. For I knew that, although I couldn't begin to fathom the depth of their love, I had been privileged to witness its unmatched beauty.

 

S-H-M-I-L-Y: See How Much I Love You.

[popey]

Dinner and dancing at home.