kapachino

Tag: love and marriage

  • The Secret To A Successful Marriage

    I was checking on one of my patients, a sweet eighty-year-old lady, and was about to leave the room when she caught my hand.

    Her: Are you married? Let me see your ring. (Looks at ring.) Ooh, that’s so pretty! How long have you been married?

    Me: About a year and a half.

    Her: Aww, I bet he’s a good one.

    Me: Yep. I love him.

    Her: I think that’s so great. I’ve been married for sixty years now, and I still love mine. Of course when you get older it’s different. It was really hard when we found out that I had cancer, but you have to go somehow! My husband and I dealt with it and then he told me we’d just be together till the end. I told him we’d better be! He’d look like a dog if he divorced me now. And then he said he guessed it would make his widower possibilities pretty bleak.

    Me: I’m glad you can keep a sense of humor about it!

    Her: Well, you have to.

  • A Competitive Sport

    Over the weekend David and I found ourselves discussing our respective domestic chores. Since we were left with nothing but applesauce, hummus, and pickles in our fridge, it was time to go shopping. After a brief discussion about what we needed David said to me, “You’ve let us run out of some things lately.”

    Feeling an assault on my wifely skills, I immediately responded on the offensive. “Who do you think cleans the house and does your laundry? Who is planning this week’s meals and is going shopping?”

    He came right back with, “Who cleaned the floors the other day? And you may go on a big shopping trip once every two weeks, but I buy a lot of little things that we need in between.”

    Realizing that the direction the conversation was headed wasn’t ideal, I swallowed my pride and said, “It’s not about who does what. We’re a team, love.”

    He responded, “And I just want to make sure you know I’m the better teammate.”

    IT’S ON.

  • A Renewal Of Vows

    This was intended to be published on October 3, our actual anniversary. A combination of a lack of Internet access and foresight prevented that from happening, so here it is, a little late.

    ***

    I, Kathleen, take you, David, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; I promise to nudge you in the morning when your alarm goes off the first time, as well as when it goes off the thirtieth time, and I’ll only give you a little bit of a hard time about it. I promise to forcibly get you out of bed, if needed, so that you won’t be late for work, because I know that even though you may seem upset about it at the time, you will thank me for it later.

    I vow to never sneak any onions into anything I cook, thinking that you won’t notice. Moreover, I vow to order my meals without onions if we’re out at a restaurant and I’m getting something you might want to try. I vow to do the laundry, the ironing, and to always put a new bag in the trash can, because I know how you hate those chores. And I vow to always thank you when you take the trash out, do the dishes, or clean your side of the bathroom.

    I solemnly swear to stop what I’m doing when you come home from work and give you the attention that you deserve, because you are more important to me than any book, chore, website, or TV show. I swear to never hang up the phone, leave the house, or get on a plane without telling you I love you first. I swear to put my head on your shoulder while we’re listening to the sermon during church. I swear to hold your hand or your arm while we’re walking in public. I swear to put my arm around you in bed every night, but I also swear that I won’t get my feelings hurt when you tell me you’re too hot for that.

    I vow to listen when you’re talking, and to make every attempt to be interested in politics, your latest true crime book, or whatever sports team you’re currently obsessed with, and, failing that, I will at least pretend to be. I vow to give you proper praise when you save us ten dollars by using the CVS cash you’ve earned. I vow to tell you as often as possible what an amazing man I think you are, and that out of the six billion people in the world, you’re my favorite one.

    Above all else, I promise to always stick up for you, to fight for you, to go to bed and wake up next to you, to put your interests above my own, and to ask for forgiveness when I don’t. I promise to do my best to make this marriage the best part of our lives, and I promise I will be there for you for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.

    ***

    This post inspired by Holly at Nothing But Bonfires, for whom I have an unrequited blog love.

  • things i love about my husband

    One of my goals is to write David a list of 100 things I love about him, and this is the perfect time for that. Here are 90 of those things, because the other ten are just for us.

    1. He remembers everything I say.
    2. He likes to run errands. I rarely have to do the grocery shopping.
    3. He made up “Family Bed Time” for us and the dogs, where we spend time loving on them, cuddling, and talking when we get home from work.
    4. His warm soft body, especially because I’m always cold!
    5. Listening to him softly snore in the morning.
    6. How he can fall asleep in 2 seconds no matter where he is.
    7. All his little noises.
    8. Our “lang”.
    9. It doesn’t happen often, but he lets himself cry in front of me.
    10. His musk.
    11. He unashamedly calls me Dayleen – you know, like Brangelina?
    12. He buys me flowers for no reason at all.
    13. He gives me the big half of the pastry, brownie, cookie, etc.
    14. He LOVES dogs.
    15. He tells me he loves me a million times a day and means it.
    16. He won’t relax if there’s anything wrong between us.
    17. He actually likes to cuddle.
    18. He makes everyone laugh.
    19. My whole family loves him.
    20. He has made an effort to get to know my brothers.
    21. He even looks out for them and has concern for them as if they were his flesh and blood.
    22. He is very socially adept, and I am always proud (and grateful) to have him around in social situations.
    23. He has beautiful eyes.
    24. He has strong, defined calves.
    25. He protects me in countless different ways.
    26. He’s a practical spender, but splurges when appropriate.
    27. The way he’s gotten so involved at church. He’s on the leadership team and is a leader in the youth group as well.
    28. He’s extremely sensitive to everyone around him.
    29. He’s close to his family.
    30. He loves to read and always has multiple books going.
    31. He is a great at conversation and I am never bored with him.
    32. He lets me pick the movie or TV show we’ll watch.
    33. His cute mouth.
    34. His thick, sturdy legs.
    35. He loves playing with kids.
    36. How cute he looks holding our nephew Lucas.
    37. He tells me I’m beautiful and notices when I change anything about my appearance.
    38. He always wants to spend time with me and finds a way to make it happen even if we’re both extremely busy.
    39. He helps around the house and I don’t have to ask him to.
    40. He keeps in touch with me throughout the day.
    41. He likes the food I cook…
    42. …but he’s okay with cereal or sandwiches for dinner (thank God).
    43. He treats Cleo (my dog) almost the same as Eddie (his dog).
    44. He tucks me in to bed every night.
    45. He’s a homebody just like me.
    46. He lets me decorate the house in whatever way I want.
    47. He likes sports.
    48. He came to all my indoor soccer games.
    49. He holds onto me in public…
    50. …and in private too.
    51. He’s excited when I buy something for myself because it makes me happy.
    52. He puts up with my blog.
    53. He loves my natural beauty but compliments me when I have makeup on.
    54. He goes to all the Alley Theatre shows with me.
    55. He wants to travel all over…
    56. …but he loves coming home to Houston.
    57. He has the best heart of anyone I know.
    58. He does hilarious imitations and voices.
    59. He does the Right Thing.
    60. He’s been through a whole lot and come out on the other side.
    61. He trusts God with his life.
    62. He always comes to me first with any thoughts, fears, happiness, struggles, good news, etc.
    63. He wants to have a family with me.
    64. He’s faithful.
    65. He honors me by not watching raunchy TV shows or movies.
    66. He makes sure our vehicles are in good shape before we go on a road trip.
    67. He has adapted to my inability to communicate well at night when I’m tired, even though that is when he needs me the most.
    68. He encourages me with all of the projects I take on (cooking, decorating, Internet, etc.).
    69. He is constantly bringing me little treats or gifts that he knows I’ll like.
    70. He never says anything negative about me to other people. He always praises me.
    71. He loves and respects my parents.
    72. He knew he wanted to marry me and pursued me until he had me.
    73. His dimples!
    74. His parents are two of his most favorite people.
    75. He puts up with a very painful hip condition and rarely complains.
    76. He’s an excellent, safe driver and drives us wherever we go.
    77. He’s very intuitive to people’s needs; he can “read” people well.
    78. He’s extremely intelligent.
    79. He lets Cleo sleep in the bed with us and even brings her there every night because he knows I love it.
    80. He makes up silly songs about random things.
    81. He works very hard at his job.
    82. He’s an excellent storyteller.
    83. He’s the best partner for games (especially Trivial Pursuit and Scattergories).
    84. He tells me he loves me when I wake him up at 5 a.m. when I’m leaving for work.
    85. When he reaches for me to pull me close.
    86. He let us buy a $4000 mattress that we are paying off over 2 years (no interest!) because I am in love with it, even though it makes him hot.
    87. The way he loves to make people happy.
    88. He stopped feeding Cleo people food because it makes her sick and she’s gaining weight, even though that is one of his favorite things to do.
    89. He’s an excellent communicator.
    90. He loves me more than I ever thought a human being could love me.

  • I Still Do

    I loved my wedding. It was a huge affair with over 200 guests, planned for 8 months, stressed me out to the max, but it was worth it. The entire weekend was the best in my life.

    If I were to go back and do it again, there wouldn’t be much I would change. So here, enjoy a completely gratuitous slideshow of wedding pictures that I made.

    I’m happy to report that my marriage is even more amazing than the wedding was. I would do it all over again every single day of my life.

    Music is “This Kind Of Love” by Sister Hazel.

    All photos by Christine Tremoulet. Copyright 2008, all Rights Reserved. If the pictures are slightly blurry, it’s my fault for resizing them wrong, not hers!