Anyone who is married can likely attest to the fact that marriage is hard work. There are a lot of things that couples do to try to keep it all together when things aren't in the best place, and that includes holding on to those little reminders of how much you love each other. Nicole Johnson, the blogger behind Suburban Sh*t Show, is sharing the super sweet thing that her husband does to remind him of the love they share, no matter how rocky the road gets.
Nicole recently shared on Facebook that her husband has kept an old receipt with her number on it since they met 16 years ago! She wrote:
My husband has kept this number with him since the night we met 16 years ago. It sits in his wallet — with all the other receipts. I would attribute it to laziness, but he (unlike me) cleans his wallet out often. For some reason, he has held onto this piece of our history. The first time I found it, I knew that no matter how far we've moved away from the first days of new love, how far we journeyed from our beginnings, how far from romance, date nights, us–this is still there. This piece of who we were and where we started remains with him. He carries us around wherever he goes.
Nicole also got very candid about how hard marriage and raising a family can be. She admitted to not having "the easiest time lately," but she explained that they are trying, talking, working, and dealing with all of the craziness that life throws at us. "We will keep working. Because it's work. It's kids. It's baggage. It's anger. It's love. It's all of the stuff that life is. And that shit is hard," she continued.
She also expressed that obviously this little paper in her husband's wallet isn't going to magically fix everything, but having that reminder there can absolutely help.
"And when it gets hard, like really hard — the sort where it seems easier to walk away than to stay — look for those things in your beginning. For us, this old receipt tape, worn and battered, is ours. It won't do the work. It won't keep our marriage going. But it's a reminder and it's a help.
So if your marriage is in a rough patch, look for your beginning–that place where your US started–before the kids and mortgage and start there. Good luck. I'm rooting for all of us!"
We totally agree. Sometimes it's the tiniest gestures, that may seem insignificant to the outside world, that can make all the difference. It's all about finding what works best for you and your marriage and your family.
