Heading off to a sports bar in Mgarr wearing Charles & Ron is not exactly what one may consider a date night but this is how my husband and I have found our balance. He attends C&R‘s PALAZZO fashion show as my guest and I get to accompany him to a gruesome boxing match that I find not the least bit amusing.

Once, I interviewed a 100 year old man who told me ‘the secret to a happy marriage is that you do what makes her happy and she does what makes you happy’. It came to mind yesterday when our date night turned out the way it did. Whilst I have a feeling that my husband enjoyed the fashion show more than I did the boxing, I know it was the right compromise. Amongst my close girlfriends we often share a few rants about our other half but shrug it off soon enough with a ‘Whose relationship is perfect?’ Most of us are working at it constantly.

My occasional pictures with my husband have recently proven to be quite popular and attracted comments from people asking me to promote love more often. “Horses for courses” because every relationship is different and what may work for me does not work for all but for us, topping my list of what works right now are:

Date Nights

Be it every week, fortnight or whatever we can afford, we pencil a date night like we pencil our chauffeur services for the kids and our work. Its nice to be seen for more than just a diaper changer, cook and clean freak.

Laughing together

Intimacy has many forms and I find laughter to be one of them. When you can both laugh together and share those secretive jokes that no on else gets, not only do I distress but I get more confident with us as a couple. It helps that one of you has a wicked sense of humour that often comes out at night resulting in me giggling my way to sleep!

Reach out for Professional Help if Needed

Most couples do not talk about going to therapy/counseling and I agree, but I have come to know that many actually do and it has saved relationships or made them move on for the better. I strongly suggest it because some issues are hard to handle on your own as a couple.

Taking a compliment

I had to learn that verbal expression does not come easy to everyone so I search for these and take them when they come. They could be about something good I did at work or simply out of banter. Yesterday morning he told me I looked awesome when I woke up at 7am, which of course I knew not to be true and that it came with a tag line ‘rugby is on today, can I watch?!’ I still took it 🙂

I could share more but for today I’ll stop here and leave you with this… Whilst for most nights, sitting on the sofa and loosing ourselves in our favourite TV series feels just want we need, date nights were a good way to reboot our relationship!