Marriage

Recapturing the Romance
This material appears courtesy of Christian Broadcasting Network

Growing up with six sisters helped Michael Webb learn about the importance of romance. At the tender age of sixteen, he learned from his mother the two important secrets to a woman's happiness: She needs to be told she is loved everyday, and she needs to be shown that she is special frequently.

When Michael married, he took this knowledge to heart. Practicing romance in his marriage brought him so many approving nods from other women that he decided to make his whimsical ideas public in the form of a bimonthly publication, The RoMANtic Newsletter, which contains hundreds of inexpensive, effortless ideas to show.

In order to nurture a loving relationship, he believes couples should steer clear of have what he terms "tall poppy syndrome." This is the belief that marriage partners should always be equal. When our mate overshadows us, we may be tempted to cut them down a little to bring them back to our level. Michael believes this concept is self-destructive. Instead, Michael says we should nurture and praise our partner so that they can blossom like they should.

How can we nurture the one we love and show them that we care? How do we put the spark back into our marriage? One way is to take the time to say you care in a creative way.

Here are some ideas:

• Celebrate your anniversary every month, instead of once a year

• Garage Gift Galore: Get a card, streamers, balloons, etc. and decorate the inside of the garage. When your sweetheart comes home from work, she will get a surprise profusion of decorations to greet her.

• Say it with a Hershey's Kiss: Place Hershey's Kisses around the house along with a card, or write your own little love notes on the candy tags.

• Just the Fax, Man: Fax a copy of your hand with a little note that says, "I'm missing you and I can't wait to hold your hand."

• Cawfee Tawk: Get a pound of your mate's favorite gourmet coffee and put it in a mug as a present.

• Write it on Tissue Paper: If your sweetie is sick, why not send her a unique "Get Well" note? Take some Kleenex out of the box and write special caring statements on each tissue. Then place them neatly back into the box. When your mate goes for the tissue box, she will get some welcome affectionate words from you.