Anonymous wrote:What makes my marriage happy? Having an insanely talented lover on the side. Flame away.

No flames. If it works for you, it works for you.

People shouldn't be so judgmental anyway. My 2cents

What makes my marriage happy? Having an insanely talented lover on the side. Flame away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He genuinely loves me and I love him. He's an amazing father. He treats my family as well as he treats his own. He makes me laugh. The sex is still frequent and great. He indulges my ridiculous side. He truly loves to spend time as a family. He's good looking and thinks I'm beautiful as well. We still flirt. He's kind to all my friends and will go to any outing I plan with other couple/family friends. We text or chat throughout the day, especially when he's gone. He does the stuff I hate, like driving at night or driving long distances. He can and does help clean the house. He watches my favorite shows with me even though he pretends to hate them.

I kind of hate you.
I was feeling pretty good about my own marriage until I read this.

LOL! He really is a great guy. I feel very lucky to have him.

So it all boils down to:
Communicate
DH does his fair share around the hourse
DW puts out (reasonably)

?

Communication, like others have said.

A strong attraction to each other - physically, mentally, emotionally.

Lots of date nights (kids are both in preschool).

Equality - we both work FT, so everything is split 50/50. DH understands that I need time away with friends, and he needs time alone with his computer. We make it happen.

A willingness to change/adapt/try new things to keep the marriage going. Like, I bombed on 2 meals (they tasted great - fam wouldn't eat them) last week. I told DH that he needed to step up and plan/cook so I wasn't the only one putting in the effort. I knew to do this before it got personal/too frustrating with me. We try to do physical things together - playing outside, going for walks, etc. We change up our routines (Dh used to do the morning school run, now I do it but I get time in the evening instead).

A great sense of humor and perspective about life in general.

Sacrificing little things that don't really matter (movie preferences, restaurant preferences, putting laundry in baskets, etc.) to make the other person happy and reduce the conflict/criticism that comes with cohabitation.

Anonymous wrote:He genuinely loves me and I love him. He's an amazing father. He treats my family as well as he treats his own. He makes me laugh. The sex is still frequent and great. He indulges my ridiculous side. He truly loves to spend time as a family. He's good looking and thinks I'm beautiful as well. We still flirt. He's kind to all my friends and will go to any outing I plan with other couple/family friends. We text or chat throughout the day, especially when he's gone. He does the stuff I hate, like driving at night or driving long distances. He can and does help clean the house. He watches my favorite shows with me even though he pretends to hate them.

I kind of hate you.
I was feeling pretty good about my own marriage until I read this.

Also, we had to implement no technology time...tv, computers etc. That really helped us connect more.