Marriage

This past Sunday, my class did a lesson on marriage enrichment.  It was really a panel of married couples and a facilitator who led a discussion that we were all invited to participate in.  I didn't say anything during the lesson but just listened.  I agreed with most everything the couples shared about what makes their marriages strong, what each spouse is good at, what each spouse needs to work on, etc.  The one question that I would have answered differently was this one:
What do you think keeps your marriage good (I'm paraphrasing here, but it was something like that).  Some of the answers given were forgiveness, sharing values, commitment, becoming one over time, trust & respect.  I completely agree with all of those, but oddly those things were not what came to my mind when I heard this question.  What I immediately thought of was NPayne and things that make me love him so much of which those things are all part of, but I guess I thought of it in a different perspective; because I was thinking of things like....laughter, time spent alone, compliments, saying "I LOVE YOU", touch aka xoxo and hand holding and caresses.  I was thinking of more of the things that make me look forward to him walking in the door every single day....more of the daily things that keep him heavy on my mind and heart throughout the day and make me smile when I think of him.  Forgiveness, values, commitment, becoming one, trust & respect are definitely important and things that make marriage stronger; but so are the simpler (for lack of a better word) and daily things like laughing, embracing, "I love  yous", and time for just you two!