“I’m Glad I Still Like My Husband!”

Memorial Day always kicks off the summer season with such grandeur, doesn’t it? Cookouts, pool time, lake festivities and family gatherings. Nothing like a good ‘ole barbeque to get the sweat glands working! This year was a little different for Brad and I. For the past 21 years, we had been celebrating this wonderful holiday weekend with our daughters and other family members. This year, however, was a little different. Our oldest daughter is living the dream in sunny California and our 16 year old daughter was in Van, TX training to be a day camp counselor for Sky Ranch Camps. So…it was just Brad and me, all alone, with the dogs. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time. We swam, with the dogs. We cooked out, with the dogs. We chilled, with the dogs. I love the dogs, but they don’t communicate like teenage girls. It was a little quiet around our house and that was okay. Brad communicates enough for the both of us. (If you know Brad you are nodding your head right about now.) I couldn’t help but think it was a little bit of a flash forward into our future. Not too very long from now it WILL be just me and Brad hanging out, laughing together, talkin’, walkin’, chillin’. I’m so glad I still really like him. I’ve always loved him, but I’m glad I still like him.

Marriage is hard through “those years” of raising children. The schedules are grueling and the kids are demanding. Life is tough. It’s easy to lose sight of God’s clear design for the family. But we have to remember that our husbands are to be our primary relationship under our relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s okay for us to dote on our husbands when the kids are watching. It’s good for them to see a juicy kiss every now and again! When my girls were younger we would give Brad a standing ovation when he would walk through the door after a hard day of work. He loved it and they thought it was fun. Now, it’s mostly just me and the dogs excited to see him. Bless him.

Keeping your marriage alive, fresh and first is a challenge but it is worth it. Before you know it, your kiddos will be living their own lives and it will be just the two of you again.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

~Lisa Clark