Remember, the sweetness of romance can also be entirely swept away by a colicky baby, the intrusion of nosy in-laws, or the loss of a job. Since life will introduce its own romance-wreckers, isn't it better to start practicing for the times when it's not a story-book?
If you can keep your life full of sweetness and light, then you can probably count on the romance to get you through. But if, like the rest of us, you find crow's feet creeping up on you, then perhaps you need to find something else to bolster your marriage. Something more solid than romance and flowers. Something that can withstand a few storms.
I knew a woman who woke up every morning at 5 am, so she could shower, apply makeup, and take a curling iron and mousse to her hair before putting her nightgown back on and climbing back into bed. Her reason? She wanted to protect her husband from the site of her true, beautiful self in the morning. She was married for five years before her husband saw her without her makeup on.
She thought that marriage was romance and flowers, and I am certain she doubted that her marriage could survive the light of day. Not knowing the couple very well, I couldn't say for certain, but my guess is that her husband was not so weak as she thought. I know he didn't keel over from a heart attack the morning he finally saw her "in the rough." Most men can survive the site of the woman they love at 5 am, even with morning breath and smudged mascara. In fact, I think most men find the sleepy, I-just-woke-up look to be quite sexy!
In an effort to protect her husband from her less-than-perfect self, she hid some truth from him. She sought romance, but not friendship.
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