Living My Legacy ~ 3~Being Best Friends with My Husband

 Me and The Husband~Best Friends

This is the third post in Living My Legacy… If you want to see how this little series was hatched look back at How A Trip To The Grocery Store Changed My Life.  I call it living my legacy because I believe that’s what we are all doing whether we know it or not. The first post was: My Tongue & my Tone. The second was Time with God. This one is: Me and The Husband…Best Friends.

 

Here we are a hundred years ago on a dinner cruise down the Seine~Go ahead laugh…but big hair was soooo in.

 

When The Husband and I got married, he inherited an instant family. Three little ones, ages four and under! We had our work cut out for us from the moment we said “I do”.  Not to mention that only three months after the wedding I somehow got pregnant with Emma! (I love to say it…The Husband went from zero to four kids in twelve months!)  So we lived with intention when it came to our marriage. Here are some of the things I believe help us to be best friends…

*Date nights …these have always been a top priority.  I can honestly say come hell or high water, we have date nights every week. When money was low, we put the little ones to bed on time and we made dinner together. I would set a pretty table, make a special dessert, light candles and put on music.  Some weeks, I lived for those date nights.  Things weren’t always kicks and giggles in our marriage but strangely, even in the rough times we’d keep the date nights!

*Common goals…big goals, small goals, short term or long term…whatever! Just as long as they are shared goals. I think we’ve done upward of a million house projects over the years!  I think them up and The Husband figures out how we can do them. I remember pouring out my heart to my friend Beth about some problem we were having and she said, “You two need another house project, something you can work on together.”  Common goals help The Husband and I remember that we’re on the same team.(As Bethany’s fiance’ Darren says, “Same team (Bethany), we’re in it to win it!”)

 *Sharing (some of) the same hobbies…The Husband and I have had lots of different shared hobbies.  (We have seperate ones too.) For a couple of years we ran half marathons. Every Saturday we’d go somewhere fun to do a long run. We enjoyed searching out new places every week and loved running together. When the cartilage in my knee went AWOL we stopped running and started weight lifting.  Our bud Ruthie was our trainer and we worked out several mornings a week at 5:00.  We read books and learned a lot about lifting weights and still go to the gym together several times a week.

In January we got a new camera for our 23^rd wedding anniversary and we’re taking photography classes. We’re looking forward to planning day trips to interesting places where we can practice our mad photography skills!

 

Our marriage is far from perfect but those are a few of the things that I believe have helped us stay best friends.  It’s been good for us but it’s also had an impact on our kids.  In the past five years each of my three girls said they want a marriage like mine. So living my legacy with intention in my marriage has influenced my children, hopefully in some positive ways.

Today and every day, I pray I’ll live my legacy with focus and intention.  Any thoughts on being BFF with your Significant Other?