Date nights saved my marriage

It was the first time I had left my kids with a sitter overnight and I quickly discovered my attachment issues. As we bid farewell, my husband had to lug me away as I spewed the last of my instructions. I felt like I was abandoning my newly hatched eggs on the sands of a beach somewhere to be devoured by birds. An hour out, I was still fluttering with anxiety. By the time we got to the hotel in Park City, I was just beginning to relax.

By the next morning, I decided the pelicans could munch on my eggs for a while, and I was converted to the overnighter. My husband and I still reminisce about this particular trip. It rejuvenated us as a couple and became a marriage saving tradition. On our night away, we loved having uninterrupted romance whenever we wanted, trying new foods and stores, and simply enjoying one another. When we were away from the kids, I got to be Michelle, not Mom, and it made me feel like a new woman. We came home loving each other and appreciating each other so much more because we spent time enjoying one another. Long hours and high demands take their toll on relationships, and the only way to stick together is to spend time together.

A good friend told me about her in-laws and some of the struggles they faced in their marriage. They had seven kids under the age of fourteen when one of their children was in a horse accident that rendered him mentally handicapped. Such a trial could easily destroy a marriage, but they are still happily married many years later. They attribute their “saved” marriage to having a date once a week, a night away once a month, and a getaway for a week once a year. This is a marriage saving tradition.

Family traditions, vacations, and memories are important, but one day the kids will move out and you and your spouse will be left with only each other. Your most important relationship is that of husband and wife. Give it time, and keep sweeping your one and only off their feet and having traditions, vacations, and memories with just the two of you. When you begin mumbling under your breath about how your husband doesn’t get it, and your wife doesn’t appreciate you, it is time to play. Leave work, kids, and bills at home.  After enjoying the memories of many family vacations and weekend dates with his sweetheart, my dad said it perfectly: “I guess the more I think about family vacations and traditions, the more I realize how important they have been in my life.”

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“Got your Ever After? That is the question of a lifetime.  When your Ever After began I’m sure it was a happy one, but, over time, something about family life becomes a little less perfec…

Family Ever After

Michelle Packard

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Michelle Packard is a mother to her four very human and totally fabulous kids. Her oldest, Ella is always in charge and leads the pack with creativity and curiosity, Daniel follows with loyalty and loves tenderly, Julia is a doll and always buzzing o… Read More

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