I can’t believe it’s already Valentine’s Day!  Happy Heart’s Day to all of you.  We truly are a lucky group of women (and our hubbies are even luckier )!  

This past week brought tears to my eyes as I joined so many of you in completing the 5 Minute Gift.  What an honor it was to write that letter to my husband.  How painful it was to think of having only five minutes to say all there is to say before leaving this earth for good.  But I’m so happy I did it because an exercise like that gives you perspective.  

As I visited the sites of other bloggers doing the same, I was happy to know I wasn’t the only one who cried throughout that exercise!  It was tough, right?  Well, this week it was my husband’s turn.

Before boarding a flight to Nashville on Sunday, my husband gave me a page torn from a yellow legal pad.  The words on the top of that sheet of paper, folded in three, were, “Only 5 min… My Honey.”  When I opened it, I discovered a love letter like none other.  It began:

Dear Honey,

I only have 5 minutes to express how amazing out time together has been.  You have been a blessing to me and the best wife I could have ever hoped for…  I love you more than “I love you” can express.

I would love to share the entire letter with you but I think there are some things I should allow to remain just between Keith and me (I trust you understand).  But there is one line I really love that I’m certain he wouldn’t mind me sharing with you:

If you are well-able, I want you to enjoy life…  I want you to have a place with a view, travel, and be your usual Fawn-self.”

Just reading that line again feels my heart with cheer and sadness all at the same time.  That man loves me.  More than life itself.  And I’m so grateful to have had this time together.  So have you written your letter yet?  If not, what are you waiting for?  I promise, you won’t regret it.  Not even for a moment.  

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

148. He’s a man of few words.  But he makes every word count.

149. He’s so sensitive about how others feel that last night he sent me a text asking if I’d Facebook his spinning class instructor to let her know he was going out of town and would be missing her class. (how many people would even care about that?)

150. Just thinking about him makes me smile.  

151. Although I left the house a bit of a mess when I left for the airport, I have no doubt it’s in perfect condition for when I return (he never likes me to come home to a mess, even if I’m the one that left it that way).

');

COMMENTS: With close to 92,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Don’t judge me, okay?  This will likely sound odd coming from the founder of a club dedicated to awesome marriages and happy wives.  But Keith and I don’t celebrate the one date each year couples generally go all out to show one another how much they care.  

Our first…and last Valentine’s Day we celebrated together was February 14, 2004.  We flew to San Francisco, the place where Keith got on one knee and proposed at Fort Point overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.  Keith meticulously planned this special Valentine’s Day which culminated in a delightful six-course meal at Fleur De Lys.

The restaurant was redecorated with red velvet drapes throughout to celebrate the hundreds of couples enjoying the romantic evening.  The menu was specially designed and had printed all over the white translucent cover in red script, “Love is Patient.  Love is Kind.  Love Never Fails.”  The most beautiful menu design I’ve ever seen.  I still have it to this day.  At the end of the night, I was given an elegant green box with a green and black bow wrapped around it.  It looked like a ring box but once opened revealed delectable French chocolates.

I don’t recall enjoying a more wonderful meal at a restaurant in all my life.  That was, until the bill came.  

Keith tried to hide it from me but I’m far too good at reading things upside down.  WHOA!  I won’t tell you the damage but let’s just say that was one pricey meal.

Leaving the restaurant with my flowers, chocolates and a full tummy it finally hit me.  This must have cost Keith a fortune!  So on that beautiful San Francisco night in 2004, I expressed to Keith my sincerest appreciation for an amazing night.  I’d waited my entire life for a special Valentine’s Day (I was the somewhat unattractive kid in school who didn’t get any candy grams from boys or asked out on dates) and once it happened, I quickly decided it was far too expensive.  And crowded.  And overrated.  

I asked Keith that night if we could celebrate Valentine’s Day every day…except on February 14th.  He agreed and we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day every day since.  Well, every day except “the day.”

QUESTION: Do you and your husband celebrate Valentine’s Day?  If so, what’s on your agenda for this year (don’t let my decision not to celebrate the holiday impacts yours – it’s still a very cool day dedicated to love)?

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I love my husband (the never-ending list):

143. Tomorrow, I will be flying home. Tonight, Keith is flying out.  We will be on two separate sides of the country on Valentine’s Day and yet I will never feel as though I’m not overwhelmingly loved.

144. When either of us our traveling, he’ll begin each day with a text message that simply says, “Good morning beautiful.  I love you!”

145. He wants to look good for me so as the years progress he fights mother nature and father time to look amazing and to have enough energy to hang with his bride that’s five years younger.

146. He works incredibly hard so I don’t have to work quite as hard (even though I still do because  don’t know anything else).

147. Before I left, he took the 5 Minute Challenge and gave me a letter with everything he would say if he only had 5 minutes left on earth.  Priceless.

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Blog, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 90,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<a href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html” mce_href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html”> <img src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” mce_src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” alt=”Why I Love My Husband”/> </a>

Join me, sexpert and New York Times Bestselling author, Dr. Ian Kerner, the fabulous Dating Divas and the folks at Pure Romance for another great Twitter party.  We did this last year and lit up Twitter!  Our hastag trended toward the top and we look forward to doing it again this year.

The details are simple:

-Jump on Twitter tomorrow night at 9pm EST

-Follow the hashtag #Sexweek

-Join in the fun

I’ll see you on Twitter (some of the topics may make you blush so keep a fan nearby).

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

139. He creates an environment that allows me to relax when making love.

140. I’ve never wanted to fake a headache.

141. The same friend he is outside of the bedroom is the same friend he is in the bedroom.

142. He’s gentle with my body.

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 89,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<a href="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html" mce_href="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html"> <img src="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg" mce_src="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg" alt="Why I Love My Husband"/> </a>

This week, a few of us bloggers teamed up to help promote the March 1st launch of a new site run by two of our friends. The site, Fulfilling Our Vows, asked us to write a blog post on marriage advice, our love stories, tips or post our favorite articles.  Hmmm…that’s tough.  I hope they don’t mind but since I’m the rebellious type (to which my father just looked down on me and said, “Amen to that!”) I think I’ll choose something different.

Fulfilling Our Vows.  From the moment they contacted me to say what they were doing, I knew I wanted to be a part.  The title alone beckoned my participation.  You can see what other fabulous bloggers are participating on this hover calendar.  

I love being married.  My husband is the best thing since sliced bread (no really, and I mean delicious rye bread, toasted and covered in melted butter).  I adore him.  And he shows me daily that he feels the exact same way about me.  Fulfilling our vows is a no-brainer.  Why wouldn’t I want to stay married to this man through sickness and health, through riches and poverty, until death do us part?  He’s my partner.  He’s my best friend.  In the caress of his arms is where I want to remain forever.

Is he perfect?  No.  But neither am I so wouldn’t I be the pot calling the kettle black to complain about any minor imperfections he might have?  When we stood before family -and an Elvis impersonator in training- and pledged to be together until the very end, we intended to keep that promise.  Divorce was removed from our marital equation even before we said, “I do,” and we’ve spent every day since creating our happily ever after.

So is fulfilling our vows difficult?  We will celebrate a decade of marriage this year and I can honestly say, without hesitation, it hasn’t been.  What I’ve found is if I celebrate our differences and focus on my flaws rather than his, I’m so busy working on me I have no time to think (let alone complain) about anything he does that’s less than angelic.  He may not be perfect…but he’s perfect for me.

QUESTION: What is one of the differences you and your husband have that you simply overlook because life is too short (and your marriage too important) to sweat the small stuff?

Until Monday…make it a great weekend!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

134. He calls me his best friend.  And he treats me as such.

135. He trusts me with big decisions and asks my advice for every major decision he must make.

136. He shares with me everything that goes on in his day; he welcomes me into his world.

137. He’s vulnerable with me.

138. He’s taking me to see Die Hard on Valentine’s Day!  Yippie Ki-Yay!

<a href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html” mce_href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html”> <img src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” mce_src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” alt=”Why I Love My Husband”/> </a>

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 90,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Recently, after my mom discovered the letter my father wrote to her years before he passed away telling her everything he would possibly want to say in his final 5 minutes on earth, I decided to do the same exercise.  Yesterday, I imagined I’d breathed my last breathe and was standing at the pearly gates of heaven.  Before entering, God met me at the gates, “I know you love Keith and there are some words you wished you’d said before I brought you to me.  So I’m allowing you to return…but only for 5 minutes…to say all there is for you to say.”

I took out a pencil and sheet of paper, set the timer on my iPhone to 5 minutes -and with tears streaming down my eyes at the thought of no longer being with him -this is what was written:

My Love, My Sweet Love,

I only have 5 minutes to say all there is to say and I don’t want to waste even a second.  The first two words that come to mind are thank you.  Thank you for all the piggy back rides, thank you for looking into my eyes every day and letting me know you love me more than anything else in this world (even yourself).  Thank you for allowing me to stand on your toes with my arms wrapped around your neck as you’d dance around the room while I sang whatever song was in my head.

Thank you for loving me in spite of me.  In spite of my flaws, mistakes and idiosyncrasies.  Thank you for taking care of me, every bit of me, every day from the moment we first met.  Thank you for honoring my commitment to God to…

That’s it.  That’s all I could get written in 5 minutes.  There’s so much more I’d want to say.  I didn’t even get a chance to say I love you.  But here’s the blessing, and the reason I can dry my eyes, is I can speak so much faster than I can write and I still have this moment to say those three words and so many more.  

Maybe that’s why I’m unabashedly and unapologetically in love with my husband.  While many women hold back and are measured in the love they are willing to give away, I am giving him my all.  Yes, I’m a strong woman, an independent businesswoman, but my strength is not shown by how much I hold back.  It’s shown by how much I give.  

CHALLENGE: Set your timer for 5 minutes, write down all you’d want to say to your husband in those final moments, and then give it to your husband tonight.  On Thursday, come back and share a bit of that letter with us and automatically be entered to win a Fandango Dinner & Movie package.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

126. He has loved me so well, 5 minutes could never be enough to tell him how much his love has meant to me.

127. He’s always looking out for my best interest and thinks about how everything he does might impact me (and he thinks about this before he does something).

128. He indulges me in conversations about our children (their personalities, names, bedroom colors) even though we both know we may never be able to have children of our own.

129. He makes me smile.  Daily.  Many times each day.

130. While I was setting my timer to write the above letter to him, he wrote me a text that simply said, “I love u.”

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Blog, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 90,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Last week, Keith and I went to visit my mom.  Because of my recent travels, I’d only seen her a handful times since my father passed away toward the end of last year.  So we were excited to spend some time with her and catch up with everything we hadn’t covered in our frequent phone calls.  As soon as we walked into her upstairs bedroom and sat down, she had something to show us.

She’d been cleaning out the armoire and making room since before my father passed, he’d been using about ninety-percent of it and mom’s things were relegated to about ten-percent (gotta love that man).  ”When I was cleaning out the top, there was a letter in the back from your father, want to see it?” she asked with a smile.  Of course.  It was a letter that threw her for a loop and had rocked her world earlier in the week.  ”I wasn’t good for much of anything, for a little while, after reading that letter,” she told us.  It began with these words, “Bun Bun, I only have a 5 minutes to say all I need to say before I will leave this world forever.”

Whoa.

Imagine having just lost your husband a few months before and then coming across a letter in which he’s telling you he only has 5 minutes to say all he needs to say before he will leave you forever.  Then she looked at the top of the letter and it was dated several years prior to his recent death.  It was at that time she remembered when and why the letter was written (although she’d never seen it before).

Dad had been speaking at a marriage conference (something they did often together) and participated in the session of another speaker.  The audience was told to take out a pen and paper and were given a scenario.  ”You have just died and arrived in heaven,” the speaker told them.  ”At the gate, the angels tell you that you have exactly 5 minutes to return to earth and tell your spouse all there is to say,” he continued.  ”The clock starts now, you have 5 minutes,” and everyone frantically wrote out their very last words.

I can imagine the tears in the eyes of those writing the letter as they imagined saying goodbye for the last time.  What I can’t imagine is how difficult this task must be to complete.  But Keith and I are going to do it and I invite you (and your spouse) to join us.  Set a timer for 5 minutes, don’t think about it, just write.  Put on paper everything you would say to your spouse in those final 5 minutes remaining in your life.

Ready.  Set.  Go.

I’ll share with you my letter on Tuesday.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

123. He still gives me “the eyes” and flirts with me from across the table (as a matter of fact, we were with some of his colleagues last night and he was flirting with me from across the table and one of them said, “What is he doing?  Is he asking for the wine?” LOL – I guess they hadn’t seen a husband flirt with his bride in a while ).

124. He waits patiently for me to join him for morning coffee when I’m sitting on my computer and writing a blog post that I probably should have gotten up earlier to write (as he is right now).

125. He continues to wait for me..because he knows how important this Club is to you and to me…which is also the reason I will only add 3 items to my list today.  He’s waiting and it’s time for me to go.

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 89,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<span class=”mceItemHidden”> <a <span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>href</span>=”http://www.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>happywivesclub</span>.com/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>html</span>” <span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>mce</span>_<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>href</span>=”http://www.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>happywivesclub</span>.com/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>html</span>”> <<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>img</span> <span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>src</span>=”http://www.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>happywivesclub</span>.com/storage/<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>WhyILoveMyHusbandII</span>.jpg” <span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>mce</span>_<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>src</span>=”http://www.<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>happywivesclub</span>.com/storage/<span class=”mceItemHiddenSpellWord”>WhyILoveMyHusbandII</span>.jpg” alt=”Why I Love My Husband”/> </a> </span>

It’s interesting how the things we think to be most insignificant are the very things that end up meaning the most.  When I began keeping a list of all the reasons I love my husband, I didn’t realize the impact it would have on my marriage and our relationship.  

I didn’t know I’d find myself in the car, typing in notes on my iPhone every time he did something that made me smile.  When he’s walking around the house, just being himself, I now pay closer attention to all the things he does for me; all those things that I may have missed or taken for granted before.  I didn’t look at them as “extraordinary” acts of kindness until I really began paying attention.

It reminds me of a time I bought some prescription glasses (before I had Lasik 8 years ago) that turned into sunglasses when I was outside.  There was nothing special about these glasses other than a slight green tint on that made me feel oh’ so chic when I wore them.  So every time I’d look at a tree, leaves, grass, etcetera they would look perfectly green.  If I took the glasses off, I might see a bit of brown in the grass but with the glasses on, I could only see deep green pastures.

That’s what it’s been like since I began making my list.  Keith has flaws (shhhh…don’t tell him I told you) but they’ve become like those brown patches of grass with my green tinted shades on.  I know they’re there but I simply can’t see them.  Instead, I see all that is good, all that is wonderful, all that is oh’ so very him…

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

117. He knows the passwords to all my social networks, email, cell phone, etcetera and never feels the need to use them.  Why would he?  He simply trusts me.

118. I trust him.  And he’s continuously shown himself to be trustworthy.

119. He loves his mama (a plus in my book for sure).

120. He loves my mama (and treats her like his very own).

121. He knows I’m not a huge fan of cooking so he tends to make his own meals (but when I offer, he’s always very happy to receive).

122. He’s a strong man.  I always feel safe, protected, and invincible when he is around. 

</p> <p><a href='http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html'><br /> <img src="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg" alt="Why I Love My Husband"/><br /> </a><br />

I absolutely LOVE when reports like this come out confirming what the members of this club already know.  A happy marriage has far more benefits than simply making us smile each and every day.  We already discovered through my travels that a happy marriage is a constantly flowing fountain of youth.  We know having a partner that makes us laugh takes years off our lives (not to mention those fabulous endorphins it releases).  And the fastest way to reach your dreams is to team up with your life partner.  But maybe there’s a few facts you didn’t know.

Everyday Health posted an infogram on their website last week siting several new reports giving a glimpse into some of the other benefits to marriage.  Click the image below to see their report.

Last night, Keith and I raised our glasses at the start of a dinner meeting and said “cheers” to a great life.  This morning, we clicked our coffee mugs together and toasted to the start of a beautiful day.  So here’s my encouragement to you to raise your glasses (even if it’s just ice water) in honor of your happy marriage and all the healthy benefits that come from it.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

111. Every breath he takes, every move he makes, every bit of his being, lives to make me happy.

112. We share a bathroom but the majority of the space is dedicated to my beauty products and he never complains (such is the life of our hubbies, relegated to one small cubby in the bathroom).

113. It took me 9 years to get him to stop using coffee as his means of drinking water (“I drink water, it’s just filtered through coffee beans” was his favorite response) but he knew how important it was to me so he now gladly drinks 8 glasses of day (which makes my heart happy).

114. We share a closet and although he’s much bigger than me and I tend to wear the same 3 outfits over and over, I still take up most of the closet.  And he just smiles about it.

115. He still lusts after me and loves the curves in my body.

116. He allows me to be silly and act like a kid and never makes me feel weird or odd about it.  I was an entrepreneur at a very young age so being given the opportunity to feel like a kid means the world to me.

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 87,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<a href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html” mce_href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html”> <img src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” mce_src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” alt=”Why I Love My Husband”/> </a>

This week, I spent alot of time visiting the sites of other marriage bloggers.  I’ve been so busy the past year, it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to do that in quite a while.  And I loved it!  Seeing thousands (literally, thousands) of bloggers out there who are happily married and just wanting to talk about it makes me smile from the inside out.  One particular blog post struck a chord with me the moment I read it.

Most of us watched (or at least read the headlines about) the Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah Winfrey last week.  I must admit I was a bit saddened because I’ve always wanted to believe him.  Mainly because I believed in his organization, LIVESTRONG.  But while so many of us LIVESTRONG supporters sat in disappointment while Lance finally admitted to doping, the one thing that caught my attention was a comment he made about his wife.  He didn’t say much, it was just in said passing, but I noticed because I never even knew he’d been married (and I usually pay attention to that).

So as I stumbled across a blog that was talking about it this week, I learned he’d previously been married but was now divorced.  That made me curious.  I immediately did what any trained researcher would do.  I Googled it (you thought I was going to say something much cooler than this, didn’t you).  In an article on Oprah.com from 2006, Lance’s ex-wife Kristin talked about what she learned from marriage and said something I found to be so profound:

What is the greatest conspiracy in modern history? Kristin says it’s not Watergate or the assassination of John F. Kennedy—it’s marriage.

“I think a conspiracy is anything that’s shrouded in silence,” she says. “I think women are awesome communicators. So why don’t women talk to women about what it’s going to take to not just make [marriage] work but make it great?”

That statement made me pause for a moment and then it made me smile knowing that’s all we do in this Club.  We talk not only about what makes marriage work but what makes it great.  Thousands of women from this club take to our Facebook community page every day and do nothing but talk about the beauty of marriage and how they make it great.

But I also realize there are so many Kristins in the world who may not know people like you or me; those of us who love being married and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  So here’s what I propose.  The next time someone asks you what it takes to make a marriage work, respond in this manner, “Rather than give you advice on how to make your marriage work, allow me to tell you how to make marriage great!”  And then share with them every piece of advice you’ve got.  Pull out the entire arsenal and don’t let them leave your presence until they’re as excited about marriage as you are.

Until Monday…make it a great weekend!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

106. No matter how busy I am at work, I still get giddy when I see his face pop up on my iPhone and his ring tone, Easy Silence, start playing.

107. He loves variety and yet he’ll still take me to the same restaurant every weekend (as he’s doing tonight) because I love their warm spinach salad.

108. He fixes everything around the house.  I don’t know what a wrench is for let alone what to do with it.

109. He is incredibly wise but still looks to me for advice with every major (and some not so major) decisions he makes.

110.  He’s got the sexiest eyes.  Prrrr….

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 87,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<a href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html” mce_href=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html”> <img src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” mce_src=”http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg” alt=”Why I Love My Husband”/> </a>

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing when talking about marriage?  I was thinking about this as I sat here with a slightly enlarged belly because I once again overindulged in my favorite snack: peanut butter.  I have no idea what it is about the taste of Jif and Skippy, or why it’s so hard for me to simply get two tablespoons of the stuff (the portion size most nutritionists and trainers will tell you not to exceed per day) and simply close the lid.

Instead, I open the lid, begin dipping my chilled honeycrisp apple slices in the jar (don’t worry, I’m the only one that eats peanut butter in this house) and long after my apple slices are gone, I’m still dipping my spoon.  For my health and fitness goals, I can tell you this is not a good thing.  I try not to keep jars of the yummy, gooey stuff in the house for this very reason.  But on Sunday, I decided to face my weakness and buy a jar.  By Wednesday, the jar that once contained 15 servings (at 190 cal each and 16g fat) was down to half its original size.

Now, let’s see, why did that make me think of marriage?  Oh yes, because I’ve so often heard there is such thing as too much of a good thing and I’ve listen to people debate this theory in terms of marriage (and why we should “hold back” just a little).  I simply can’t comprehend why I would hold back from giving my all.  A chance to spend more time with my favorite friend in the world.  Check.  Having daily sleepovers with my lover.  Check.  Playing footsie under the table at dinner. Check.

In the case of peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream, Paula Deen’s hoecakes, there is definitely such thing as too much of a good thing.  But in the case of my husband, our marriage and the love we have between us, not a chance.  I’ll take a jar full of that any day!

BLOGGERS: If you’ve written a post about your hubby, your love or marriage in general recently, go ahead and LINK UP.  And if you’ve created a Why I Love My Husband list on your blog or social network, make sure to tweet the link to us and we’ll do our best to make sure everyone sees it.  Oh yes…and don’t forget to visit at least 3 other bloggers posted below. (you’d want them to do the same, wouldn’t you?) 

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

100. He does so much more for me than I do for him but he gains this inexplicable joy from seeing a smile on my face.

101. He gives alot, expects only a little And is overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude when I do sonething insignificant like take his car to get washed (something he’s done for me many times over).

102. He always pays when we go out.  Our dating has never ended.

103.  When he gets tired he conks, in the middle of whatever he was doing, and sleeps like a baby.

104. He stays off his Blackberry when we’re having dinner no matter how many work issues he has going on.

105. He is forgetful about all insignificant things but he never forgets what is most important. 

<br /> <a href='http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html'><br /> <img src="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg" alt="Why I Love My Husband"/><br /> </a><br />

Part Two.  If you missed Part I, click here: How I Met My Husband to get a little context for what follows.

“Don’t forget to leave me your telephone number,” his mother insisted for weeks until I finally relented and turned over a small folded piece of paper containing the most significant 10-digits I owned.  So imagine my surprise when weeks rolled by and I receieved no call from Keith.  Every time I’d go to the hair salon, his mom would say, “Keith really wants to call you but he’s been so busy,” and I’d simply brush it off.  I never wanted to give him my number in the first place.  

His poor mother.  I later learned she was having an even more difficult time getting him to accept my telephone number than she did in getting it from me.  Every time he’d visit her, she’d leave pieces of paper around the house with his name and a smiley face on them.  On the inside of the paper would be my telephone number along with the same question, “Have you called that girl named Fawn?”

I can imagine how he must have felt.  He was 31-years old at the time, and quite frankly, what man wants to tell people for the rest of his life, “My Mommy set me up with my wife?”  Just minutes after his mother and I had that heart-to-heart at her salon about my desires in life, she called Keith and said, “Son, I just met your wife.”  Well, no wonder he didn’t want to call me!

Weeks went by and finally I received a call on my cell phone from a number I didn’t recognize.  I answered and the voice on the other end sounded like a cross between Barry White and Dennis Haysbert (the guy from the Allstate commercials, “Are you in good hands?”).  It certainly was the deepest voice I’d ever heard on my phone.  I could have nervously responded but instead quipped, “Is this the second coming?!?” And we both burst into laughter.  ”You’ve clearly been talking to my mother,” he responded.  Indeed I had.

Keith hates talking on the telephone and yet we’d speak for hours on end.  For nearly a month we didn’t meet each other in person; we wanted to savor our time getting to know one another before we had any idea what the other looked like.  We fell in love over the phone and by the time we met, it was a done deal.

Our first date was May 9, 2003.

He proposed September 6, 2003.

On December 26, 2003, he looked at me and said, “Why are we waiting to get married?” I didn’t have an answer so his follow-up statement made all the sense in the world, “Let’s not wait.  Let’s drive now to Las Vegas and get married.”

We eloped December 27, 2003 with my sister and her husband as our witnesses and an Elvis impersonator (in training) as our officiator.

And that, my friends, is how this wild and amazing relationship began.  This year, marks a decade of love and I could not have imagined life any better.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Why I Love My Husband (the never-ending list):

95. He does at least 1 thing every day that make me fall in love with him all over again.

96. He says “thank you” for the most miniscule things I do.

97. He will go without having something he’d like to have just so he can get me something he thinks I’ll like.

98. He entertains my jokes and laughs at my idiosyncricies.

99. He’s gentle with me.

Join me in creating your own Why I Love My Husband list and share it on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest pages.  Bloggers: Make sure to come back every Thursday and link it up the blog post with your ever expanding list.  Just grab the button below and tell everyone all the reasons you love, adore and cherish your husband. 

COMMENTS: With more than 87,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook Community page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation.  

JOIN US: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for?  Join the club!  It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

<br /> <a href='http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/daily-blog-happy-wives-club/why-i-love-my-husband-our-first-ever-link-up-party.html'><br /> <img src="http://www.happywivesclub.com/staging/storage/WhyILoveMyHusbandII.jpg" alt="Why I Love My Husband"/><br /> </a><br />