Project Happily Ever After

By Fawn Weaver on Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Yesterday, I was honored to be featured on one of the top marriage blogs out there, Project Happily Ever After.  The creator, Alisa, is an amazing woman.  She went from hating her marriage and husband to falling in love with both – and in a major way.  I have a huge amount of respect for her and her blog.  And she has an awesome giveaway for you at the bottom of this blog post.

Originally written for and published on Project Happily Ever After

I grew up in a home with parents who were well-known marriage counselors.  I learned a lot about marriage from an early age and can truly say it was one of the greatest blessings of my life.  I’d eavesdrop on couples on the brink of divorce and glean wisdom from each conversation.    

When I married, I seemed to instinctively know what pitfalls to avoid.  I understood the trickiness of bringing together two people with distinct personalities and asking them to become “as one.”  I’d read a number of books on marriage, personality differences and becoming a “whole” person before marriage. 

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I now know how rare it is for one to go into marriage fully prepared for what is on the other side of the curtain.  And consequently, my beginning eight years ago until now has continued to be a bit of a fairytale. 

This is what I love most about Alisa’s story.  She and I have lived out completely different beginnings in our marriage but have ended in the exact same place: a place of unconditional love, acceptance, passion and peace.

How we arrived at this place in our relationships may be different but how we continue to grow is likely quite similar.  There are certain things we have determined to do – intentionally – every day.  So in writing this post, I thought about things my husband, Keith, and I do daily. Without fail.  To continue on our path to Happily Ever After. 

And here’s our Top Five: 

5. Stay physically connected.  Have you ever tried being upset with someone you are hugging, kissing, or holding hands with at various times throughout the day?  It’s pretty impossible.  Even just brushing up against each other and touching each other’s palms.  Gently stroking the side of each other’s face while looking in each other’s eyes takes only a few seconds, but has benefits that will stay with you throughout the day.

4. Come to the table together to eat.  Keith and I have extremely hectic lives and dinner together is not always possible.  But every day, we either begin the day together with coffee and tea or we end our day together dinner.  One or the other.  We stay connected not just physically but emotionally.  I know how he feels because I ask him each and every day.  We talk about everything. 

3. Know your spouse’s highs and lows.  Every day when Keith walks through the door, he’s exhausted. He works in a role that is incredibly demanding with little room for error.  He sits down and would be perfectly happy not to talk about his day.  But in our house, that’s not an option.  There are two questions we always answer for each other, “What was your high?  What was your low?”  Knowing these two things gives each other insight into the other’s day.  We learn of each other’s worries, fears, challenges and successes.  Each day. 

2. Accept each other’s differences.  Keith and I come from very different backgrounds.  We both achieved success in business before we’d met each other.  We’re iron-willed with great conviction about what we believe.  But neither of us are perfect.  Not even close.  I have more quirks in my personality than I can count. And vice versa.  So how arrogant would it be for me to want him to be just like me?  To do things as I would do them?  Arrogant…and impossible…so I reckon not to try. 

1. Choose happiness.  Not long after Keith and I first said “I do” we were confronted by negative comments about marriage everywhere we turned.  We heard about everything from the ‘first year blues’ to the ‘seven year itch.’  It was incredibly rare to hear the words “Happiness” and marriage used in the same sentence.  But there was at least one time I can remember.

Riding in the crowded elevator almost eight year ago, with Keith’s arms wrapped around my shoulders and my head nestled into his chest, a woman observing our affection began doing what so many had done before her, “Hold on to that.  It won’t last long…”  But before she could finish her less-than-positive statement, a woman also riding in the elevator added her two cents: “Happiness is a choice.  My husband and I have been married 29 years and we have chosen to be happy.  Every morning when we wake up we choose to enjoy our day with each other.  We choose to be happy.”  With that, she looked Keith and I square in the eyes and said, “Choose to be happy and it will last.”

We have made that choice daily since 2003 and continue to do so every moment of every day.

Enter to Win Best-Selling Book: Alisa has been absolutely wonderful and is offering a few copies of her book to you for free!  To enter to win Alisa’s best-selling book, you only need to do two things:

1) Comment below on this post.  We’d love to hear your thoughts!

2) Like us on Facebook

3) Follow us on Twitter 

That’s it and you’re automatically entered to win Alisa’s best-selling book!  The winners will be notified next week.  Until Friday…make it a great one!

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Fawn Weaver is the USA Today® and New York Times® bestselling author of Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage, adopting the same name as the Club she founded in 2010. The Happy Wives Club community has grown to include more than 900,000 women in over 110 countries around the world. When she’s not blogging or working on her next project, she's happily doting over her husband of nearly eleven years, Keith.

 

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are snarky, offensive, or off-topic. If in doubt, read My Comment Policy
  • http://Www.hopefulfuture.blogspot.com Paula

    Love this post!!!

    And I really love how the second woman was positive and encouraging in the elevator. That is so rare!!! :)

  • Fawn Weaver

    You're so right, Paula. It was rare. Her words were like pouring rain on the Mohave desert. I don't think people realize how much their negative thoughts about marriage are not their own but rather thoughts other people have planted. That's what's so different about this Club. It's all women who are fighting back against the negative onslaught and saying, "I will decide whether or not I enjoy being married, thank you very much!" I love this Club for that very reason!

  • http://www.kristisinger.blogspot.com Kristi Singer

    I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! My husband and I have had our share of struggles…I am much like Alisa! There were times when I didn't like my husband or my marriage. Of course, I didn't like me much either during that time. But, the statement from the woman in the elevator is so true! There are days I could have turned and run the other direction, but I was not about to let the devil rob me of my marriage! I am so thankful that during that time, God gave me strength enough to fight for my man! I am more in love with him today than I was the day we got married. I didn't think that would be possible!

    17 years and counting…and truly blessed!

  • Fawn Weaver

    I love stories like yours and Alisa's because you always know a marriage that's been through something and made it out onto the other side. The love and respect they have for each other is wholly apparent. Congrats on 17 years, Kristi!

  • Hailey

    I just want to comment to try to win the book! I've been reading Project Happily Ever After for a while… and now I'm going to start reading Happy Wives Club as well :)

  • Fawn Weaver

    Hailey, I feel the same way! I haven't read Alisa's book yet (I actually just found her site not to long ago and am in love with it). If you've LIKED us on Facebook and followed us on Twitter, you're all set in the raffle.

  • http://www.shannonyvette.com Shannon Yvette Tanner

    Very POWERFUL post Fawn, love it! You and your hubby are choosing JOY on purpose. Thank you for the important reminder that we are not powerless, but actually creatively connected to our own happiness. Thanks for the tips, I do all of them except "what was your high? What was your low?" that's priceless advice. Keep shining the light for marriage, SO many are attracted to the GLOW!

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Shannon! I, too, find the "highs and lows" question so easy to ask and answer. At the end of a tiring day, sometimes the last thing our husband wants to do is tell us about his day. But, there's just something about this question that is so disarming. He always had a challenge answering the question, "So how was your day?" Which makes sense because you are asking for a specific emotion and unlike us women, they don't always know what emotion they're feeling at that moment. But saying, "What was your high? What was your low?" Seems to be a very easy question to answer for men (maybe because it's more exact and to the point). Don't know why, all I know is it works :) .

  • http://Inspiredbysarah.com Sarah

    I love number 4! My guy works nights so on work nights I don't see him at all to share a meal. We do however see each other at 7 a.m those shifts! I should make it a point to have us sit and have breakfast together those mornings. Great ideas!

  • http://www.sandrasteen.com Sandra Steen

    Fawn…keep the JOY coming and going!….I may be single on the temporary; but I love hearing that marriage can be a JOYous adventure! If we choose to listen to the pundits; happy marriages appear on the verge of extinction; what an important mission to present the antithesis. The foundation of the family and our nation depends on it!

    It's tough to build something when you really don't understand what it should look like….Keep the imagery of a "Happy Marriage" out there; perhaps more will choose to follow the many successful blueprints being presented….Much JOY!

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Steen! And I know you know alot about joy. You keep promoting joy and we'll keep promoting marriage and when you get married you can promote both :) .

  • http://myraysofsunshine.com Faith – My Rays of Sunshine

    I agree, "Happiness is a choice." I actually believe everything in life is a choice. I try to teach this to my children as well. When my 6-year-old tells me someone did something mean/bad at school he'll say something like, "Sam choose to hit Suzy today. Because of his choice he had to see the principal." I'm happy to see that my son understands there is a consequence to the choices we make in life.

  • Fawn Weaver

    Faith, I LOVE that you're teaching this principal to your son at an early age. Keith and I definitely believe everything in life is a series of choices and determining to be happy and have a wonderful marriage is one of the best choices we've ever made. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Sarah! We live by them. So happy you and your fiance will start doing #4 :) .

  • http://www.failuresneverfinal.com Colleen

    As a busy mom to six children, I need to occasionally be reminded of the importance of putting my marriage first (well, second – since God comes first). I tend to put my children in front of just about any other person or activity in my life.

    Keeping our marriage healthy and strong, however, is really the best gift we could give to our children. I know that. Now, if I could just live that out. . .

    ;-)

  • Christy Joy

    I love the "highs" and "lows" question that you ask daily. I always want to know how my husbands day was but I think sometimes its just too much to convey. Asking about a high and a low can really sum it up. Thank you for this:-)

  • Fawn Weaver

    Colleen, I think your challenge is the same as every Mom so don't feel bad. It's funny because I remember interviewing a happy wife of 40+ years and she put it this way, "Listen, the marriage came before the kids and that's the way it should stay because in 20 years they'll be on their own and then what will you be left with? Nothing, if you don't keep your marriage first." (paraphrased) And what a blessing it is for your children to see a loving and healthy marriage. When they get older they'll duplicate it…I'm living proof :) .

    Christy Joy, tell me if his answers are more elaborate once you start asking that as your question. I found with Keith, when the question began being posed that way, he had SO much more to report :) .

  • http://dominiquegoh.com Dominique

    I love the positive tips.. especially #5.. Choosing Happiness.. this is something that I should do more often.

  • Fawn Weaver

    Dominique, that's my favorite too :) . Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it. Cheers!

  • theresa kuo

    excellent words of encouragment

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Theresa!

  • http://www.moniquezackery.blogspot.com Monique

    Fawn, you and I have such a similar story. I read your words and it sounds like you're describing my husband and me! We are so in love. We flirt every single day. We laugh together, we cry together (well usually I'm the one doing the crying) we love life together and we stay physically connected. I so badly wish that more people would talk openly about the joys of marriage. I know you read my blog post about the gift of marriage for Tuesday's Unwrapped. So many people have said terrible things about marriage. But I'm blessed to have many friends who are happy in marriage and happily ever after is REAL and totally possible! I thank you for creating a space here where I can feel free to boast about the joys of marriage. Everywhere else, in person or online, it's pretty much taboo, so I stay quiet. (I'm working on that)

    http://www.moniquezackery.blogspot.com

  • http://365actsoflove.wordpress.com 365 Acts of Love

    I'm not sure if my comment posted, but I'd like to be entered into the book contest.

  • http://www.happywivesclub.com/community Fawn

    Monique, Don't stay quiet…the happy voices are being drowned out by the naysayers! Yes, please come on here and share with us how wonderful your hubby is because you're in good company. And don't forget to submit Quick Tips that are broadcast to thousands of wives each week via our Facebook and Twitter. We'd love to get your tips on keeping a marraige happy, engaged, spicy, whatever you'd like :) . Thanks for stopping by! I'm going to head over to your site too.

  • mom to8blog

    I have been married 27 years….happily married! We have had a date night once a week since the kids were born….this helps us with # 1, 2, 3 4, and 5 your great list!

  • Fawn Weaver

    Momto8- That's fantastic! Yep, that weekly date night is so important. So happy that's on the top of your list :) . Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.

  • http://www.viviankirkfield.wordpress.com Vivian Kirkfield

    I always tell people that our marriage is a work in progress. But every marriage is…or should be! Of course we've had ups and downs and rocks along the path. I'm happy to say we are still on the journey together and every year our relationship grows stronger. We celebrated our 44th anniversary this past August…I leave my husband a little love note when I leave for work (he is retired) and we still hold hands when we walk down the street. :) I'd love to win a copy of the book…we always need to be open to learning how to do it better.

  • http://lifecontinuesafter40.com Donna

    This is an awesome and encouraging post.! We can all CHOOSE to live out these principles; and when we do we find them to make a profound difference, not only in our own marriage but in those around us. My kids are constantly telling my husband and I that we are terrific role models and they have hope and excitement for their futures as spouses just by watching us interact with eachtother.