National Marriage Week: Back To Basics

By LaCharla

February 7 -14 is National Marriage Week, a time to celebrate marriage and all the good things it brings. We’ve decided to celebrate the week with a theme: Back To Basics. If you just got married, you’re still staring into each other’s eyes and grinning all day. So this won’t make sense to you yet.

But that’s okay. Just keep reading anyway.

Hustle and Bustle

For the rest us, the ordinariness of commuting to work, shopping for groceries, dropping kids off at soccer, and washing the dog can take over our lives. These necessary things can push aside the ever-smooching honeymooners we used to be.

But for this week, let’s refuse to let that happen. Let’s get back to basics. Let’s remind each other why we fell in love. Let’s celebrate the things we love about one another. Let’s make time for courting again.

An Idea A Day

Every day of National Marriage Week, we plan to share an idea that you can put to use that day to celebrate and nurture your marriage. We hope you’ll try some of our ideas or let them spark your own creativity and share them with us in the Comment box at the bottom of the page.

Day 1: The Right Kind of Love

Today, we want you and your spouse to become Love Detectives. Your assignment is to learn to speak your partner’s Love Language. If you’ve read Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages, you know what we mean. The idea is that each of us needs something different in order to really feel loved.

Yes, he knows you love him, but what makes him feel your love?

Here’s An Example

You’re a husband, and a television commercial says diamonds are a girl’s best friend. So you save for months to buy your wife a diamond necklace. She likes it, but you didn’t get that over-the-top reaction you expected. So you become a Love Detective and discover that her Love Language is time and attention, not receiving gifts.

She really wants face time with you. No kids. No pets. No tv. No Facebook. Just you, and your undivided attention.

Detective Work

So you can read The Five Love Languages together over the next few days. Or you can just take a few minutes tonight to investigate one another. (Sounds like fun, right?) Share with each other the things that make you feel loved. And don’t just listen to each other so you can make a list. Listen for real understanding about your spouse’s needs.

He may not make a habit of sharing his feelings. So listen closely without interrupting. Her Love Language may not be what you always thought it was. So let your mind become a blank slate and really hear what she’s saying.

Been There, Done That

Even if you know one another’s love languages already, you can still become a Love Detective tonight.

Share one or two things that each of you would enjoy that you haven’t done before. For example, a Facebook friend shared a different kind of date night that she and her husband enjoyed. They took a painting class through Groupon. She says it was “out of the box” for them and that it was fun and funny. So if your spouse’s Love Language is time together, maybe it’s time for a unique date night.

That’s A Wrap

Well, that’s it for Day 1. We hope you enjoy becoming a Love Detective. It’s a great way to put a little fun in your day and a bit more focus on your relationship.

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