Ferocious Flirting: Making Marriage Wonderful

We went out to lunch at a great Japanese restaurant that has wonderful chicken and reasonable prices. Then we went and got my sweetie's favorite dessert at a different place. The dessert cost more than the Japanese meal. Go figure. In the evening, we had dinner with the kids. Then we sent them to watch a movie on the downstairs TV while we went in our room, locked the door and enjoyed my sweethearts gift to me: Hogan's Heros: The Complete First Season . I had forgotten how much we enjoyed this show. We ended up watching a bunch of episodes. All in all a wonderful anniversary.

As the children get older, it can be hard to find time to be alone with your sweetie. Children have school, sports, friends, homework, and so much more. The parents end up spending a lot of time driving kids to events, watching sports and performances and encouraging them in homework. When is there time for each other? One way to be alone together is to have a lunch date. A previous post discusses sending a note to work in your sweetie's lunch. Today's tip is to make arrangements to have lunch together. If you work close enough to home, a lunch at home can be fun and inexpensive. If not, you can either pick up your sweetie at work and go someplace close to work or you can arrange to meet each other at a restaurant. It can be a lot easier to get together for lunch than for dinner, especially if the kids are in school.

Scavenger hunts have been discussed in a previous post on Valentines Scavenger Hunts . With new technology, we can up date the scavenger hunt by using a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. A GPS can tell you within 10 feet where you are anywhere on earth. They have a lot of uses and can be real fun. For the scavenger hunt, get the GPS position for several memorable places from your courtship and marriage. Examples include where your first date was, where you first kissed, where you were married, and your favorite restaurant. Once you have the location of each place, there are several ways to do the scavenger hunt. Leave your sweetie the GPS and a note to go to the first location. At that location, have another note directing them to the second location and so on. Be waiting at the last location which could be a restaurant, theater or even back home. Do the same as above, but rather than having each location be some spot from your past, make each location part of the evenin

In Matthew 5:41 it says: 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. This is often referred to as "going the extra mile". Do more than is necessary or asked of you. How does this apply to romance in marriage? There are several aspects that could be explored, but a simple example will suffice for today. I am serving as "Toastmast" in the Toastmasters club I meet with. With St. Patricks day, I decided to decorate the room with a pile of gold coin candy. My sweetheart was headed to the store and asked if I needed anything. I mentioned that if she came across some of those candies to pick them up for me. Well, she was at the store for quite a bit longer than I had expected. Turns out she had to go to half a dozen stores to find the candies. She also got other St. Patricks day decorations for me to use. Thanks sweetie! You are great at going with me twian.

A previous post discussed a romantic date centered around watching the sunset. Today, I continue the idea using a different approach. Most cities have restaurants that have great views of the sunset. A fine meal in a romantic setting can lead to sharing a memorable evening together. Maybe even surprise your sweetie with a small gift or card expressing love and gratitude. Give your gift as the sun sets. Finding a good sunset-viewing restaurant is not all that hard. Hotels and other tall building in town are good places to start. Ask friends and family for good restaurants with a view. Sometimes out-of-the way restaurants have a nice west facing window. Finally, sometimes these restaurants are "go there for the view" restaurants. The food does not have to be good if the restaurant has a great enough view. If that is the case, consider going there for dessert. That way to whole evening is not spoiled but a poor quality meal.

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.