Monday, April 20, 2010......
I'm on Twitter. I follow friends, chefs, random people that make me laugh (e.g, Sockington the Cat) and professionals in the writing industry. When Rachelle Gardner tweeted she was looking for 50 people to read, review and blog about The Marriage Project by Kathi Lipp I jumped at the chance.
I admit, I didn't know who Kathi Lipp was, but anyone who could come up with some great suggestions to reconnect with hubby in 21 days had my attention.
I think people forget that once you say "I Do" it doesn't mean you can ignore the relationship. In fact, quite the opposite.
As a person who was married once before, I know what it is like to be lonely in a marriage and I never want to be in that position again. In fact, I had never really thought of marriage a second time around until I met my husband. Kathi summed it up perfectly by stating "It takes a lot of hard work to have a great marriage".
What I liked most about the book is that she's not a Ph.d, but a woman who has bought and read many of the self-help books, realized they were incredibly time consuming and took the best of the best and put it into a 21 day project.
This was genius! My first thought was I can set aside 21 days, that's not too long and although I was reading this book to review on my blog, I shared a great deal of the suggestions with my husband (even the ones that had me sitting on the couch with him watching his favorite show while I didn't multi-task) he LOVED that idea. Often, I leave the room to surf the Internet and he'd rather have me in the room with him.
She has worksheets and suggests you tell a friend about your project -- someone to hold you accountable. The best part about her suggestion is it can be someone local, out-of-state or an unconventional friend (one you've met online).
In past entries, I've joked about my husband's brilliant ideas for dates under $25, but she has some great suggestions for under $20 (20 Dates for $20) and some that even include children).
At the end of the day, everyday life gets in the way once married. Some spouses might not want to participate and as Kathi mentioned, the project is also to help you view your spouse in a new light. Kathi reminded me of something I knew all along: Marriage is intentional.
You can get your copy of The Marriage Project through Amazon or Barnes & Noble
