Thursday, January 19, 2012

LOVE OF A LIFETIME

In April my husband and I will be celebrating 20 years of marriage. For some reason it doesn't seem like it's been that long (although once in a while it'll feel longer) but to be honest, from the first date, I knew I'd found my soul mate.

While my husband isn't the most romantic man in this world and it's because he just doesn't believe in it...or so he says....there are times when he does surprise me. For instance when I first told him I was writing a book he went out and bought me a notebook with several legal-sized tablets, some new pens and an electronic dictionary/thesaurus. I can't tell you how much it meant to me, that he not only supported me from the get-go, but that he believed I could do it before I believed it...this from a man who's first gift to me was a ceiling fan.

Anyway, we've never really thought about the romance....it was there, but we didn't go out of our way to include it. When you have four children you're focus is on taking care of them and spending as much time with them as possible before they grow up and get their own lives, but that doesn't mean we neglected each other.

Now that the kids are no longer babies, my husband and I are relearning how to be a couple. One of the things we've started doing is have a 'date night', which is usually dinner and a movie. Since we don't have to worry about getting a sitter or coming in at a decent hour (which we do anyway because we're old ha-ha) we can go away for a weekend or even just get a room for the night....there's a lot to be said for sex in a motel room... (sorry.... is that TMI?? heh).
Oh, and speaking of our anniversary, although we haven't planned anything yet (because I have a conference that week in Scottsdale) I thought I'd play our wedding song for you. My husband chose it to be the song for our first dance...see...he surprises me. :)
 

10 comments:

Margaret Tanner said...

Hi Terri,
What a lovely idea to have a "date night," with your husband. A night away in a motel room, sounds good too, to keep the romance alive.

Regards

Margaret

Maria Zannini said...

Happy anniversary, Terri. It's the little things that talk the loudest.

We still do date night. I highly recommend it--especially if you have kids. :)

Paty Jager said...

I agree after 33 years there are times it feels like we just got married. And we LOVE the kids out of the house and having time for just the two of us.

When the kids were small we made sure at least once a month(since I was a stay at home mom and he was on the road a lot) that we either had his mom or got sitter to watch the kids and we went out even if it was just to dinner.

Judith Ashley said...

Terri,

I watched the video (and thanks for one that had the lyrics written out) and WOW!

Anything we can do to show another person we love them, respect them, want to be with them strengthens the relationship.

Thank you for sharing your story. and no, the motel stuff wasn''t TMI for me - just reminded me of the truth of that statement (LOL).

Terri Molina said...

Hi Margaret,

The motel stays definitely keep the romance alive. They're like mini honeymoons. =)

Thanks for stopping by.

Terri Molina said...

Thank you, Maria. I think all couples should do a date night, especially if you have kids. You need that time for yourself so that when all the kids are gone you aren't sitting there staring at each other going...now what?? lol

Terri Molina said...

33 years! Wow, Patty, that's awesome!! Congratulations!

Hubby and I weren't able to do date night when our kids were small because we didn't have family near by to help with the babysitting (we were a military family). It wasn't until the oldest was in his late teens and could babysit for us that we were comfortable leaving for an evening (though, not overnight)

Terri Molina said...

Thank you Judith. Yes, those lyrics are beautiful, aren't they?

Bron said...

I always think it's the quiet, just be by your side, kind of guys, that are the true romantics. They show how they feel in little ways - like buying your notebook.

Happy anniversary.

Terri Molina said...

Thank you Bron. That's very true.