Ferocious Flirting: Making Marriage Wonderful

Do you have a passion in life? Passion, like most English words, has several meanings. When you are passionate about your sweetheart, it could mean ardent love . People can also be passionate about other things. In this sense, passion can mean boundless enthusiasm and that is the meaning for today. What are some of the things you are passionate about? For me, my passions include family history, my sweetie and offspring, physical fitness, chess , improving my marriage, Toastmasters and computer programming . These are the things I like to do, enjoy doing and choose to do when I have some spare time. This blog is part of my passion in making my marriage great. What does all this have to do with romance in your marriage? Just this: sometimes in marriage we abandon the things we are passionate (boundless enthusiam) about in favor of passion (ardent love). For a healthy relationship, each partner needs to develop their individual interests and talents. Also, each needs to wholeheart

To add romance to a meal, try adding candlelight. We associate candlelight with special occasions so when you add candlelight to an ordinary meal, it becomes special. Of course, using the fine china, a table cloth and preparing a special meal (or getting take out) adds to the sense of romance. Don't forget to dress up, even though the meal is at home. Why do we like fire? Whether it is the flicker of a candle, the warm glow of a camp fire or the blaze of a bonfire, most people love fire. The flicking flames add a dramatic flare to a meal. The dancing shadows add a sense of energy to the meal, a romantic dynamic if you will. The glimmer of the candle catches the eye while it casts a flattering glow upon your sweetheart. All these visual clues equate to an enhanced sense of wonder and mystery. Everyone seems to look better in candlelight. Every notice how a flame seems to make your sweetheart's eyes twinkle as they smile? The natural light of a fire seems to draw out a natural b

For years we have heard that laughter is the best medicine . I even wrote about laughing in a previous post entitled Laugh a Little . Now there is some research on why laughter is good for you. An article, Laughter May Be Good for the Heart, Study Finds , in the news states: A daily dose of laughter may be good for the heart because, like exercise, it makes blood vessels work more efficiently, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. While not a replacement for exercise, laughter, it seems really does have some physical benefits to it. Of course more research needs to be done in this area, but the conclusion of the study is still interesting. The study only included 20 participants so drawing any conclusions at this time is premature. Yet, it does serve to remind us to laugh together as a couple and a family. Not a funny person? Need somewhere to find funny anecdotes? One of my favorites is Reader's Digest. Each issue has a lot of humorous family-friendly stories. They have

Do something for your sweetie with "no strings attached". Let me give you an example of "strings attached". First, the wife cooks the husband's favorite dinner to butter him up so she can ask him to take her shopping. Also, the husband get very helpful with the chores so the wife will feel better about him going out with the guys. Admittedly, these are stereotypical examples but they help to illustrate the point. The point being that we often try to manipulate our sweetie by doing things for them so they will do something for us. When we do things this way, what happens? Your sweetheart feels manipulated. They will begin to start asking, "What is it now?" every time you try and do something nice for them. You will feel that your sweetie owes you the thing you want. If they don't give you what you want you will feel cheated. It works to douse the romantic flame of the marriage. Now, consider doing something special without any expectati

Imagine you were going to meet someone very important. It could be someone famous, your boss or someone else you would like to impress. How would prepare for such a meeting? You would go all out to look your best and make a good impression. Isn't your sweetie a very important person? Every now again, prepare yourself for your sweetheart like you would for that person you wanted to impress. Let your sweetie know how important he is to you.

Some feel that when the children arrive, the romance of marriage is over. Children take so much time and attention that it is hard to even find a spare moment to be together for anything. Romance seems out of the question. As the kids get older, the demands change and its becomes harder and harder to be romantic. Yet hope is not lost. Think of the kids as your little romantic army. When you are doing something romantic for your sweetie, plan a way for the kids to participate in at least part of it. An idea of how to do this is mentioned in Family Romance . Another idea is that if preparing breakfast in bed, let the kids do some of the cooking or write a "We love you" card. By including the kids you will emphasize the message you are trying to send to your sweetie. When you take all the effort of getting the kids to help it adds to the feeling of love and gratitude. Beside, the kids love it. If you have included the kids in a romantic gesture, why net send it to me?

Spring is blooming, what a wonderful time of year. I should write an Ode to Spring but there are lots of them and those better than my attempts at poetry. I digress. Spring is a great time for you and your sweetie to watch the sunset together. The sun goes down late enough to get home from work and still have enough time to prepare. But it goes down early enough to not make a too late of an evening. There is still a hint of chill in the air to make snuggling very pleasant. Instructions for watching the sunset: * Find out when sunset is going to be. * Find a suitable location. Some ideas might be up on a hill with a good view to the west or over some body of water. Its not that important. * Bring a some treats like chocolate or cookies and milk. Something small and portable. Maybe a picnic dinner. * Bring a blanket to sit and snuggle on * Plan to arrive and have everything ready 15 minutes before the grand event. * Sit, eat, talk, snuggle and enjoy the show!

I found this floating around the internet: Studies indicate that a man who kisses his wife good-bye when he leaves for work every morning averages a higher income than those who don't. Husbands who exercise the rituals of affection tend to be more painstaking, more stable, more methodical, thus, higher earners. Studies also show that men who kiss their wives before leaving in the morning live 5 years longer than those who don't. Isn't that amazing? It seems that just by kissing your wife you can make more money and live longer. However, I could not find the actual study that shows this relationship between kissing and money. As always, anything found on the internet must be checked . Even if it does not raise your income or make you live longer, kissing your sweetie in the morning is a great habit to get into. Since you are going to be apart from your sweetheart for most of the waking day, make sure that the thing that happens last before you part company for the day i

For special occasions my sweetie gets breakfast in bed. This happens maybe twice a year for Valentine's and for her birthday. My sweetheart really likes the attention and the kids like to help in the surprise. Because it happens so rarely it is extra special. What would happen if she got breakfast in bed everyday? It would stop being special. It would become commonplace and maybe even boring. Soon she would come to expect it and feel disappointed when it didn't happen. You and your sweetie share some special events and occasions. Keep them special by keeping them rare. In that way you ensure that the special things stay specials.

Have you ever met someone who dominated every conversation? Do you know a person who has the gift of being able to talk for extended periods of time without taking a breath? How do you feel after trying to hold a conversation with a person who keeps changing the subject? What about one who interrupts other people's conversations? It can be a very frustrating experience trying to talk to a person who doesn't listen and won't allow other people to converse without interjecting. Surprisingly, most of us invite such a one into our home everyday. Who is it? It is the television of course. The television talks non-stop all day long, is great at capturing one's attention and refuses to listen to anything anyone says to it. Many times my sweetie and I will be talking and one of us will be distracted by the television. At that point a couple of things happen. If it was the person speaking, they will lose their train of thought and become frustrated. If the listener i