The "wild, passionate obsession with each others bodies" kind of gives me the heebies. I don't know, it makes me feel like I'm in 7th grade sex education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above all else: a shared faith in God

Access to the sacrament of reconciliation--to all the graces from all the sacraments

Openness to children

Humility, a willingness to ask for forgiveness and to forgive

A wild, passionate, crazy obsession with each other's bodies that gets more intense every day

Appreciation that each of us lays down our life for one other every day

The most intimate, intellectual, joyful, trusting, loyal friendship of all our friendships is with each other

After all else: a shared faith in God

You have eight kids, right?

Um, we used to, but not any more...

Funny, there's an article on CNN about this right now - I thought that's what this thread was about.

http://us.cnn.com/2011/09/20/living/healthy-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Anonymous wrote:Above all else: a shared faith in God

Access to the sacrament of reconciliation--to all the graces from all the sacraments

Openness to children

Humility, a willingness to ask for forgiveness and to forgive

A wild, passionate, crazy obsession with each other's bodies that gets more intense every day

Appreciation that each of us lays down our life for one other every day

The most intimate, intellectual, joyful, trusting, loyal friendship of all our friendships is with each other

After all else: a shared faith in God

You have eight kids, right?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Ha OP a dear friend from high school had a button pinned to the bulletin board in the kitchen: HAVE WIFE, WILL TRAVEL.

Lots of physical affection. When we get mad, we have a rule where we have to say five nice things to one another (ends the fight pretty quickly).

Same sense of humor. We both really try to make the other one happy and always let the other know how much they are loved.

Above all else: a shared faith in God

Access to the sacrament of reconciliation--to all the graces from all the sacraments

Openness to children

Humility, a willingness to ask for forgiveness and to forgive

A wild, passionate, crazy obsession with each other's bodies that gets more intense every day

Appreciation that each of us lays down our life for one other every day

The most intimate, intellectual, joyful, trusting, loyal friendship of all our friendships is with each other

After all else: a shared faith in God

Married a great guy with whom I have a lot in common. We both work toward common goals (ie keeping the house clean-ish, raising our child, having fun). We try to listen to each other.

Shared sense of humor.

Understanding that after 10 years, we may have things that get on each other's nerves, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Our interests (activities on a weekend, vacations, etc., line up)

Lots of hugs, kisses, and general affection.

Great compatible sex life.

Respect

Communication

Humor

Sex

In no particular order...

Gratitude. We often tell each other how much we appreciate each other. We each feel like we really scored, and we remind ourselves of that a lot.

Perspective. The only serious problems those that endanger our health, our children, or our marriage. Also, we know we're going to make up, so it's just childish to stay angry.

Good sex life.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids, kids so-sleeping and a HHI under 200K. No time to think of anything else.

Sorry - co-sleeping

Lots of kids, kids so-sleeping and a HHI under 200K. No time to think of anything else.

If you consider yourself happily married, what do you think are the biggest contributing factors toward happiness in your marriage? For us, I honestly believe the fact that my H travels 25-50% of the month is a big one. It's hard to get too sick of one another since there's quite a few days a month we're apart. I don't feel taken advantage of or like I do everything around the house, because he appreciates that I have to do it all while he's away, and helps when he's home. Our sex life is great; his travel factors in for nights either of us might want off, and make up for it having sex 4-5x a week the weeks that he is home. At first it was hard to get used to so much travel but honestly, I now think having a spouse who travels a bit during the month is one of the best things that can happen to a marriage.