Michael Douglas is the Man

Was reading some magazine recently (I want to say it was "People") and there was an article with Michael Douglas. In it, he talked about how he and Catherine Zeta Jones were working on their marriage and he said something that I've been thinking about ever since.... A paraphrased version is below,

Basically, what it comes down to is that marriage is like a flower. If you tend to it and pay attention to it and water it with affection, it blooms and grows. BUT, if you don't pay attention to it and neglect it, it withers away and will die.

Dayum. Just dayum.

It really spoke to me, and I hope it speaks to all of you, too and gives you some food for thought, if needed.

I know I've been there before. With the day-to-day busy-ness of life, it's so easy to not pay attention to one's marriage and just focus on anything else. But when you do that, you wind up feeling like you have a roommate instead of a spouse and who the heck wants that?

Full disclosure -- I have absolutely been there and my spouse and I went to marriage counseling a couple of years back because we weren't talking/hanging out and spending time together as much as we should have. So I felt lonely and like I just had a roommate instead of a spouse. Wasn't fun, but I fully appreciate my spouse's willingness to go to counseling when I asked.

I can't say the counseling itself was really helpful, but going there together DID help us because we wound up laughing together and well, mocking some of the advice the counselor gave us. Pretty sure
that was so not his intent, but hey, it sure did bring us back together because we remembered how much fun we had together and got us talking and laughing together again, which led to hanging out more and spending time in each other's company instead of watching TV in separate rooms at night. And that was the most important thing -- we started paying more attention to each other instead of not doing so, which made all the difference.

So, yes, I fully agree with Michael Douglas. Pay attention to the flower of your marriage and don't neglect it.