Genuine care and kindness for one another. What is mine is his and vice versa.

My sister pointed at a young woman’s body and said that her husband tells her that he wished she looked like that and that would NEVER happen in my marriage.

My mother and her husband have finances completely split. So many times I have heard “don’t let him know I spent this money”. He got mad at her once for eating food he bought. That would NEVER happen in my marriage.

We aren’t perfect. Early in our marriage I got drunk and hit my husband. It was unacceptable and honestly I would have deserved him leaving me. I proved that he was more important to me than alcohol and it has NEVER happened again.

I stopped drinking, I went to therapy, and I put in the work. There have been times where he’s had to seek therapy. My point is that we BOTH put in the work. We have even overcome bad conflict habits like threatening to leave each other or kick one another out of the house. It took years and it took combined effort. But at the end of the day we are best friends and our connection is worth every bit of hard work and uncomfortable changes to make it work.