I totally agree

You have to read today's post on the Stuff Christians Like blog: #581. Thinking pre-marital counseling is for everyone and post-marital counseling is for failures. Hilarious, and SO TRUE! Most of us fall into the trap of thinking that post-marital counseling is for couples who are experiencing some serious marital crises (which, according to Jon include "my wife [having]an affair, secretly develop[ing] credit card debt or [having] some sort of weird willow tree figurine habit that I don't know about). Being female, I really enjoy deep conversations on relationship, and would personally love a monthly session with a Christian counselor to talk about our marriage, but the stigma that comes with post-marital counseling is insane! But seriously, the things you talk about in pre-marital counseling (how to resolve arguments, listen to your spouse, intentionally connect with them, put their needs above your own, pray for them, etc.) don't just magically happen with little to no effort on our part - you have to work at them. So really, what is wrong with periodic tune-ups? We do that with cars, even if it's a 1989 Ford Taurus station wagon, so why not with our marriages?

After saying all that, I now (of course) feel like I need to let everyone (who am I kidding - there are like 3 people who read this blog) know how great our marriage is, so I will leave you with this story:

Matt has been working nights this week, which is not fun for either of us. This involves Matt going into the hospital around 6pm (30 minutes or so after I get home from work), and coming home around 7:30am (right about the time I am waking up). He comes in to kiss me good morning (goodnight for him), and then goes into our guestroom to sleep until he wakes up. This month he's in the DDICU (digestive disease intensive care unit), which houses really sick people. Very stressful. Tuesday morning as I was walking into the kitchen, I found a Bruegger's Bagels bag on the counter with a sausage egg and cheese bagel inside! Attached to the bag was a little note from Matt (I won't recite it verbatim because then I will just sound like I'm tooting my own horn) basically saying what a wonderful wife I am, and that he loves me. I can't believe my sweet husband took the time to go by Bruegger's on his way home from a sleepless, stressful, 12+ hour shift to get me breakfast, and then took the time to write me a sweet note! It has been one of the highlights of my week. I love my husband. Thanks Matt - I thought about you with each bite :)