Save the Spark!

The thing about significant others isn’t the OTHER – it’s the SIGNIFICANT. This is another person whose feelings, thoughts, likes, dislikes, and even annoying habits you take into account in your daily life.

There are things you don’t know about your significant other, even if you’ve been together forever. Their likes and dislikes evolve and over time even the things you know about them… well, they change. So do you.

I am a sentimental sort, and I believe that it’s important to keep the love going, even — maybe especially — when it’s clouded by annoyance or misdirected anger. I am a cup-leaver, alarm-snoozer, and in other ways annoying to my husband. So I overlook the minor crap, usually. I’m not saying that we never argue, or that I haven’t ever wanted to punch him in his big fat head for stealing the covers in the middle of the night, but I’m human.

We’re five years into our Ever After, and still take time for date nights. Some are planned, and others are spontaneous, and the fact that we do take the time to make small gestures — and to acknowledge the small gestures made toward us — helps us both feel appreciated and loved even on the darker days.

Grand gestures are grand, and there are a few I’d like to share here, but for the most part, it’s more about the small stuff. Don’t sweat the small stuff, but try to notice it and practice gratitude. Save the spark in your relationship – help it smolder and smoke.

What’s the most touching gesture your significant other has made for you? What have you done for your partner?