Staying Creative in Your Marriage

Having a healthy vibrant relationship doesn’t happen by accident. It takes work and a little bit of creativity to keep it fresh.

When I met Cheryl, we dated in my 1968 Firebird and as students we enjoyed going for drives and dreaming about our future. As we planned our wedding and honeymoon, we decided to do a road trip since some of our best time of communication was while we were driving. Our honeymoon trip took us to California and we often looked back on this time with fond memories. We kept that 68 Firebird for several years before selling it.

We have always gone on dates and purposed to stay on our honeymoon. So, fast forward to our 30th anniversary, and after some searching we found another 68 Firebird to take on drives. As our 40th anniversary approached we dreamed of retracing our original honeymoon route in the Firebird. Given that it was a 50-year-old car, we had our friends at Jelly Bean AutoCrafters do a compete overall so the car was ready for a 5300-kilometer journey.

This special tour turned out to be one of the best investments, not just in the car but more so in our marriage. Relationships are very organic, they need the right amount of fertilizer and water at the right time.

The car has been our special place, but for others it could be any number of things. The key is to find something special that works for you. It is not the car, place or event, but the fact that you together have chosen something that serves as a catalyst to share and make memories.

Rhythm is also very important. We are created for rhythm. Our body functions on rhythm; our heartbeat is a rhythm. Our breathing is a rhythm. Our sleep pattern is a rhythm. If we want to have healthy relationships, we need to take these creative ideas and find a way to give them rhythm to our dating. For us, it means taking the Firebird out on a regular basis, for someone else it may be that special restaurant or a walk in a park where they first met. By regularly giving attention to each other in a special creative way you will find it will add life to your marriage.

Read more details of our trip in this article by The Vancouver Sun!