I know that none of you really asked me for marriage advice, but guess what, you are about to get some! Right now, as a bride, the last thing in the world you may be thinking about is how to keep your marriage together. I’m sure it may seem like it’s all Disney Princess fairy tales and mushy gushy moments. The reality is at some point, one of you will wake up and look at the other person next to you and think, “I can’t believe I married this person.” (In my case it was Danielle looking at me.) Anyway staying married has little to do with how you physically look, how much money you make, or how fancy your wedding was.

Staying married is about learning to live with someone who gets on your nerves.

Staying married is about changing yourself and not the other person.

Staying married is about Amy Adams, Ben Stiller, and a Digiorno’s pizza.

You may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. One of the best choices Danielle and I made was to have a date night every other week. Now, every other week may seem like forever to some crazy young kids like yourselves. Going on a date every other night and staying up till 3:00AM talking about life together may be “normal” now, but at some point that will go away. Couples don’t grow distant overnight. It happens slowly.

One of the things we have done since we were married was have a date night. We look forward to it, plan our week around it, and ignore all incoming phone calls while we are on it. The past 3 years have been extra easy because of our friends the Sokolowski’s. We have been “trading” date nights with them. We watch their kids, they watch ours. (We were tied for kids when we started, and now we kinda feel bad when we drop off 4 kids and they only drop off 2.) Here are the 10 of us standing next to a Dark Knight punching bag.

Anyway, last night we dropped the kids off, came home and watched Night at the Museum 2 and had an exquisitely delicious Digiorno pizza. That would be a 6 dollar date for all of you keeping score at home. Sure the movie was cheesy, so was the pizza. (And that joke.) The point is we spent time together, we talked, we laughed and we fell in love a little bit more. I’m not an expert on marriage or relationships, but I do know that Amy & Ben helped my wife and I stay together.

Make time for each other. Hang out. Keep falling in love.