Keeping the spark alive – Long terms relationships are hard

Jon and I cycling at Red Rocks park in Las Vegas

My husband and I have been married for twenty years and together for twenty eight.  That’s a long time.

Its hard to keep things fresh when eventually, everything has a low point like I mentioned here.

If you go out onto the internet, there are so many websites and articles that give tips and tricks on how to keep it fresh, to keep the spark alive, to rekindle the romance.

Date night for the Durys before sushi and comedy

One of the most common threads is planning a date night. Date nights are awesome.   And I’m not talking about Date Night, the movie (although your date night could include Date Night, laughter is also awesome.)  They can consist of something as simple as cooking dinner together or going out to a movie.  No one is saying that they have to be at night, involve eating, or be expensive, extravagant or complicated.  In fact sometimes simple is better.

Jon and I like to trade off planning our date nights because we enjoy some different things.

Jon is a major cyclist and, while I enjoy cycling, I won’t say that it’s my thing.
I love to cook and, while Jon also likes to cook, its not his thing either.

Jon and his sip ‘n’ paint painting

Jon loves horror flicks and rom-coms.  I dig on adventure and dramedies.
Jon likes comfort foods and I like trying new places.
Jon enjoys bubble gum pop and I dig on classic rock.
We both like movies, concerts, comedy and going out to dinner.  We both like trying new things and doing things we know are fun.

4 wheeling fun

We each get an email from Groupon, Living Social and other deal sites every day.  Sometimes we see things that are interesting to us and we buy them.  Sometimes they’re for restaurants, sometimes for things to do.

On Friday I bought us two tickets to see The Fab Four, a Beatles tribute band, for next month.  A while back I bought us cooking classes.  A few months ago, Jon bought us a Groupon for sushi and comedy and then a sip and paint Groupon even though he’s best at drawing stick figures. That was fun.  And I chose to rent four-wheelers for our anniversary where we learned that I’m a much more aggressive driver than Jon.

I guess what I’m saying is that we all need to continue to date our partners.  Be open to doing new things and let go of control of your dates.  They don’t always have to be dinner and a movie.  Branch out!