February 24, 2016

The Not So Bright & Shiny Moments of Love

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about love and marriage. I think partially because we just celebrated Valentine’s Day, and my social media was flooded with sweet posts and pictures of couples celebrating their love and commitment to one another. And because I’ve been watching the Bachelor recently & have been watching relationships develop on national TV.

I love Valentine’s Day. I love anniversaries. Not just anniversaries of wedding dates, but I love celebrating the little moments too. Like the day Kyle proposed, the day we started our relationship, the day we bought our first home…I think celebrating milestones is so important.

Valentine’s Day is bright and shiny. Full of red roses, sweet cards, breakfast in bed, couple selfies, romantic dinners, new outfits, red lipstick, romance, extra hand holding, sitting on the same side of the table. And I love that. I think sometimes, we all could use a day full of bright and shiny reminders of love. Days that seem to be set aside to remind us to take some time to look at each other when so many times we are running around looking at all of the things that need to get done.

But I have also been thinking, that in real life, Kyle and I don’t always have bright and shiny days.

Some of our days are just grey. Not that we don’t love each other, but sometimes we just have normal days. Full of work, laundry, paying bills, trips to the grocery store, and dishes. Just a lot of adulting.

I think that the best way to be happy in a marriage, is to find someone who you want to spend the grey days with. Because honestly, there are going to be a lot of normal days. Days that might not be full of red roses. And I would venture to say that you are gonna experience way more normal days than bright and shiny ones. But in my opinion, what you build in the grey days will sustain a marriage. 

I think that might be one of the reasons why some of the couples who meet on the Bachelor/ette have relationships that end shortly after the show. Because the show creates these perfect dates. Like seriously amazing dates. But it doesn’t necessarily create a lot of real day-to-day scenarios. Dates where you go to coffee and your favorite band doesn’t immediately show up for a private concert. Or days where the best you can offer is a messy bun and sweatpants because you have strep throat. Or days where you play rock-paper-scissors to decide who has to unload the dishwasher.

Here’s where we get real.

It’s up to you to make the grey days good. It’s up to you to find ways to enjoy them. 

Whether it’s a short “I am so glad it’s you” text. Or playing your favorite song on your iPod and dancing to it in your messy kitchen. Spending 10 minutes before you fall asleep just laughing about a Jimmy Fallon youtube video, or having a Nerf gun war throughout your house. It’s up to you to find ways to invest in your relationship, even when all you have are a few minutes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I loved that Kyle planned a surprise dinner at one of my favorite restaurants for Valentine’s Day. I love that he told me when to be ready, and I spent an enormous amount of time doing my hair and make-up and picking out an outfit. I love that the whole night felt special.

But here’s what I love just as much.

I love that last night, we put on our sweatpants and ate tacos while standing in our kitchen. That we watched some Netflix and I e-mailed back clients. That we talked about filing our taxes and upcoming vacation plans. It wasn’t bright and shiny. It wasn’t overly exciting, but it was perfect.

And I don’t think Valentine’s Day would have been as special, or as exciting, if we hadn’t spent time on January 3rd, or January 21st, or February 4th, or any other random day, investing into our relationship. If he only spent time telling me he loved me when there was a national holiday, it probably wouldn’t be received very well. But I love that we will get to celebrate Valentine’s Day together for the rest of our lives.

Because I can visibly see his love on all of the other days of the year. 

We all love when we see a couple in their 70’s celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary, don’t we? We love that their love has lasted. Because we all know that it probably wasn’t always easy. But in the midst of it all, they stayed together and they have a beautiful legacy to show for it.

And I bet if I were to sit down with those couples, they would tell me that there were a lot of normal grey moments. But in those moments of consistency, those moments where they walked through the normal day-to-day of life together, that’s where their marriage was built. That’s where love was strengthened.

So, Here’s what I know…

I think that love is worth sticking around for.

For better or for worse.

For good and for hard.

For normal days and for bright & shiny ones.

For Top Ramen & Filet Mignon.

That a Monday night at home can be just as wonderful as Valentine’s Day at the Space Needle.

That love is built in the grey days. And it is celebrated in the bright and shiny moments. 

Cheers, Love,

Kels

  1. Janna Dee Slaback says:

    I love this! And as someone who will be celebrating 35 years of marriage in May, I can attest to the fact that there definitely are some not only grey days, but darn right stormy-with-hurricane-force-winds-and-rainy days, too. But it’s about a choice, just like you said up above and to not have unrealistic expectations.

  2. Wendy Johnson says:

    Beautifully spoken and so true!! Wise beyond your years!!

  3. Kelsey Lee Keogh says:

    I really like this, Kelsey!! Thanks for sharing, and this inspires me as a single lady. 🙂 (Plus we have the same name, so here’s love from another Kels!) <3

  4. Jerry Blome says:

    Good stuff peanut!!!!

  5. Sheryl Blome says:

    Could I just wrap up all your blogs in pretty packages and send them to my friends? They are so good. So much wisdom in a fun and fresh way. You never stop striving for greatness and your desire to fine tune your craft and write amazing word stories is a joy to read..
    Love you, Mom