I like you anyway!

A younger friend, going through one of those troughs that show up now and then in marriages, asked me for the secret to a long, full-filling relationship. 

So I asked my son--he and Tami have been married 26 years and seem more in love now than when they first married--and my daughter who has a deep, loving friendship with her husband of 32 years. 

My daughter said her theory about creating a long-lasting relationship is this simply statement: 

                “I like you anyway.”

Because here is a great truth: each of us has habits of thought or behavior that inevitably irritate the special other in our lives. And ironically, it may be the very quality that most attracted us to the other! 

My daughter is wonderfully artistic. She also tends to clutter. Her husband loves her artistry; but the way she fills every surface?  Not so much. He, on the other hand, is addicted to ESPN sports shows, which  she tries to tune out.

Ever said  to your beloved,“You do this thing that makes me crazy"?  Next time, add this little phrase: 

“But I like you anyway.”