Thorn Yewtree
A love relationship demands great ‘maintenance’ from both partners. It is not that effort is required only to improve a relationship. Effort is necessary even to maintain the relationship in status quo!
The common understanding is that love changes after the dating period and affection is on a decline. Why does it happen this way? The answer is actually very simple. The love and affection seem to be on a decline because the efforts put in are on a decline. In the dating phase, both partners go out of their way to keep the other happy and smiling and the efforts usually pay off. The promise of such happiness draws them both into solemn marital vows. Marriage is more often than not, the objective of the dating game and once it is achieved, there seem to be other objectives that occupy the partners and the relationship is left to languish.
And when this is brought to their notice, the excuses are almost clichéd. One does not have time for the relationship and one wonders as to what is the necessity of ‘maintenance’ when the partner already knows of his/her love. But this logic does not work. When one needs to keep aside regular time and energy for earning one’s daily bread, one needs to do the same to earn food for the soul - love - also. What finally matters is not how big a place you own in the bowels of earth but how big a place you have in the hearts of people.
Once the basic physical necessities are met, fulfillment comes for a person only emotionally and spiritually. When one works so much for physical and material comfort, how much more should one work for mental, emotional and spiritual fulfillment? And this kind of emotional and spiritual fulfillment arises only out of love. All things material come and go one day; it is only love that has the capacity to come and grow! Love is what makes the world go round. It is the most essential in your world too - whatever or wherever it may be.
And so, if one is really interested in investing for the future, one must invest in love and nurture a relationship. Here are some tips that will help.
1. Pay attention to what your partner likes. Learn his/her deepest desires and aspirations. See how each one can help the other in achieving the same.
2. If you cannot agree on everything, agree to disagree! Since the opinions and feelings can vary, the journey may get a bit longer with detours. That should not deter you for you will have company of your beloved in your journey and will never have to walk in life alone.
3. Learn to love unconditionally. Basically this means your love should be free from expectation. Do not do anything for your beloved with the aim of receiving the same. The very act should be its fruit!
4. Spend quality time with your partner. This means that you give yourself completely to him/her during that time. Keep aside work, worries, career and friends for that time. This shows that you value him/her.
5. Your partner may have some traits that you dislike or positively hate. Let not this dislike for the traits become a dislike for the partner. Learn to objectively separate the traits from the person.
6. Take decisions together. Show that you value the relationship. It is as important as actually valuing the relationship!
7. Do not think that since everything is known, you need not be expressive. Show your passion and love for your partner.
Like a plant that needs watering and care, sapling of love too needs attention and effort. Of course, once it grows, the effort needed will be less but still even the mightiest of trees need water, soil and protection. Let the seed of love grow into a mighty relationship tree. The fruits will only bring you more love!
Author: Rebecca Jones
Bio: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on Wireless Router Technology. Beside this she is fond of Gucci Wallets. These days she is busy in writing an article on Wedding Centerpiece Ideas.
Hazel Goblindancer
Carla and Nigel ~10/04/2012
As Carla tried to sleep at about 7:00 on Christmas morning, Nigel got up to go the bathroom. Carla could hear the storage room door creak open and heard rummaging around. This was the second day in a row Carla had heard him go into that room and move things around. So weird she thought, but none the less she tried to fall back asleep.
As he came back into the room He flicked on the lights. “Sweetie I’m trying to sleep” Carla said. “Carla, you know I love you, right?”, “yes babe I know, I love you too, but can you turn the lights off”, as Carla rolled around in bed and threw the covers over her face to shade her face from the lights. Nigel got down on his knees and knelt beside the bed and she rolled over. “You know I’ve loved you for so long, I can remember the day I met you and thought I would love to be with you.” Tears rolled downed Carla’s eyes because she knew what he was up too. “Will you marry me?” he asked, “Yes, yes!” Carla said with the biggest smile on her face and love in her heart.
Hazel Goblindancer
Sharon & Michael ~ 09/20/2011
How She Saw It:
On the morning of September 20, 2011Mike and Sharon woke up at Mike’s Oma’s house. They had decided to play some cards, go to the pool, and do some shopping, etc. that day. When they got home from shopping with Oma, Mike asked Sharon if she had wanted to go for a walk, Sharon declined. Mike seemed sad. Dinner was almost ready at this time and Sharon didn’t want to be rude and just take off. So, dinner was served and Mike barely ate anything. Today something was different with Mike. After dinner had just finished, Oma asked Sharon to have coffee. Mike interrupted the coffee and asked Sharon to go for a walk. Sharon said no to not be rude to Oma. Mike gave Sharon a look of defeat and sadness. Mike announced “I’m going for some air” and walked into the backyard. Very odd for Mike’s behavior.
Sharon followed Mike into the pitch black night sky. Sharon called to Mike, and saw him standing at the fence looking over the hill with houses in the distance. The sun was just setting at this time, and was very romantic looking. Sharon walked over to Mike and asked him what was wrong. Mike kept saying nothing, but was hugging her non-stop and kept saying “Give me a hug, give me a kiss”. He was acting like a complete… WEIRDO! He then went and turned the light on over the bench and asked if she wanted to sit… Sharon said no because there were bugs on the bench and Sharon hated bugs! Mike had been pulling/touching his lower pocket so she asked what he was doing. He replied with “I’m just scratching”, but it was really odd the way he was doing it. She told him that she wanted to go in because Oma had yelled that coffee was ready. Mike asked Sharon to stay out a few minutes longer and finally she went and touched his pocket, because he was being so weird…nothing but his phone in there… hmmm… Oma had walked out a few moments later and Mike decided to sit on the ground. They weren’t sure what he was doing. Oma said \”What are you doing some kinda Muslim religious thing or something?” and went back in. Sharon went over and helped Mike up and started tickling him and having a “play fight”. Sharon announced she wanted to go in but Mike grabbed her and led her to the pathway. When they got to the pathway in the backyard Mike announced “Yep, this is a good spot” and got down on one knee and said “Will you marry me”. Sharon replied with “Yes… no wonder you were acting so weird!”
How He Saw It:
Mike started planning the proposal back in February of 2011, then by May he had come up with a pretty good plan of when and how, so he felt ready to purchase a ring. He had asked my sister, Sarah, to help him as she was the best person that he could trust, other than Sharon (of course).By the time he found a day off work that Sharon hadn’t made plans for them it was July. He had told Sharon he was helping Sarah find a dress for their cousin’s upcoming wedding that they were all attending. Though Sharon thought it odd for me to go shopping with my sister she bought it. Mike and Sarah looked around a bit, until he found the perfect ring. The next obstacle was asking Sharon’s dad, Darrell, for his blessing. This turned out to be a much bigger obstacle than he had originally planned but eventually, 2 days before leaving to California he decided to just give him a call. After what seemed like the longest call of his entire life, he had given Mike the blessing for his daughter’s hand! Now it was just a flight and a couple days away from the big day he had been planning for so long. After a very nervous wait in the airport watching carefully as the distrustful baggage boys ignored his luggage, they were finally on their amazing vacation, and all that was left was for him to ask. Finally, on September 20th 2011 he asked Sharon to come for a walk with him. She said no. So a couple hours later he asked her again if she would like to get some air and take a walk with him, she responded “how about after dinner? “So he patiently waited the whole afternoon and then after chowing down his food he asked for the last time if she would like to join me in an evening stroll. Sharon brushed him off once again. At this point Mike was starting to become frustrated. However Mike managed to keep his cool and lead Sharon into his Oma’s backyard after numerous attempts to get her to come sit with him on the nicely lit love bench which was covered in bugs. Mike finally walked her to the lit portion of the patio, knelt down on one knee and asked the question she had been waiting to answer since she was 5 years old. She, to his relief and excitement, said yes!
Hazel Goblindancer
I was not one of those little girls who played out her dream wedding with dolls or who knew what kind of dress she wanted since the age of 5. I never really thought about my wedding until I got engaged on December 23, 2008. Then, it hit me: I was going to have a wedding and I was going to have to plan it. Of course, I didn’t start planning it until 8 months ago because I wanted to enjoy being engaged for awhile first.
Planning things is a gift of mine, so I didn’t think it was going to be too difficult. I immediately started making lists and felt that these would keep me in check. They did not. I did not realize that wedding planning takes more than lists and that it encompasses using a vast amount of social etiquette.
This first thing that we decided was the date. Since my fiancé and I met on December 23, 2006, and he proposed 2 years later exactly, we went with December 23, 2011. A date that would eventually cause a number of dramatic issues. We chose this date because it was and is important to us. It will mark our 5 year anniversary together since the cold, snowy, December evening that we met. Simple enough, with a touch of romance and sentiment.
The second thing we discussed was the location. I am a Maritimer, born and raised in a small community in Nova Scotia where most of my family still lives. My fiancé, on the other hand, has lived in Alberta all his life. Now came the question of which family was going to have to fly across the country right before Christmas. Since I am rather frugal, and because I did not want a large wedding, we decided to have the wedding in Alberta to save ourselves the cost of flying and having to put our three pets in a kennel for a week. Besides, after looking into what it would take for me to plan a wedding in Nova Scotia while living in Alberta, I decided that I am rather fond of my sanity.
Then came telling everyone. With such a small wedding, we didn’t do invitations, we just sort of called them and casually mentioned that they were invited to our wedding that was a few months away.
That was an adventure on its own. Not only was I asking my family to fly here, I was asking them to do it just before Christmas. The response to that idea was, “Why so close to Christmas?”, “Won’t it be too cold?”, “Can’t you change the date?”. The date and location have caused a sort of snowball effect in our wedding planning, as you can imagine. But, we stuck to what was important to us. We have made some changes to our initial idea in order to accommodate our guests, but only to a certain extent.
Some people choose their date based on the availability of the venue, some people choose it based on a statutory holiday, some people simply pick a date at random. You have to decide what is important to you and your fiancé and work from there. If the venue is more important than the date you get married on, get it when you can. If you want your guests from out of town to have more travel time, plan it around a holiday. Whatever your reasoning behind the date, make sure that it is your own. You are allowed to be at least a bit selfish when it comes to your wedding, so use that while you can.
Hazel Goblindancer
The Italian Centre Shop will be attending this upcoming Bridal Fantasy Edmonton taking place on Sunday January 22, 2012!
The Italian Centre Shop has been a shopping destination for those of us who enjoy fresh, quality ingredients for years. Check out some of the best and lowest priced produce as well as pasta, sauces, coffee, olive oil, deli meats & cheese.
The Italian Centre is the perfect place to get sliced meat and cheese trays for your showers, weddings and gift openings plus a great selection of pasta machines and cappuccino makers, to make entertaining a breeze for a young newly weds.
Come see both locations:
Little Italy
10878 - 95 Street NW,
Edmonton, AB, T5H 2E4
Tel: 780.424.4869
Southside
5028 - 104A Street NW,
Edmonton, AB, T6H 6A2
Tel: 780.989.4869
http://italiancentre.ca/
