The Relationship Saga, Part 1

If you can tell by the title of this entry, it is going to be about... YOU GUESSED IT!
Relationships.
"Oh, man..", you're thinking, "Another girl trying to tell everyone else what needs to be done in a relationship through HER point of view.." Right?
Wrong!
This is going to be a place where I can get everything off my chest, while enlightening you in the process from a non-biased point of view...To the best of my ability. Now then..
On with the show!

Relationships are so infuriating at times.. You fall all starry-eyed in love with someone, and then one day you wake up and think, "This is what I've waited my whole life for??", or worse..
They piss you off one day, and you say to yourself, "What was I thinking??"
Well... I'm here to tell you that you will never be able to keep these thoughts out of your head for good... You will always have good days and bad..
You can be deliriously happy with the significant other one day, and then the next, they may just do something so stupid that, if they weren't so close to you, you'd just hit them upside the face and say, "What the hell?!?"

Don't worry. It happens to the best of us. Even those gooey, PDA-loving, sappy, gag-me, groping-in-the-hallways couples have doubts some days. And maybe those doubts aren't always about the other person.. Maybe you ask yourself some days, "What if I'm not good enough? What if I find myself attracted to someone else? What do I do then??"
Ugh.. And those are the tough questions..

TRUST
This is a BIG one in relationships.. No matter how many times you tell yourself that you trust them, one day you'll be in one of those moods, and you'll wonder, "Just where the hell have they BEEN?" Shove it aside, folks.. Because the green-eyed monster of jealousy will get you, and they don't loose their hold on you for a longgggg time. And for the people who have been cheated on, used, and tossed, this is an even bigger struggle for them. Because the monster already HAS them, and if they've been realllllly careful, it's just hiding under the stairs, waiting to strike at that first sign of doubt.
So unless you actually FIND something worth distrusting, just believe them. Trust me, it'll be soooo much easier.
(Just don't go hacking into their myspace account.. That'll just sic the monster faster. And 9 times out of 10, they don't delete their inbox, and you'll get your jealousy from the 3 year old messages that you find. Dont.do.it.)

RESPONSIBILITY
Another biggie. Not QUITE as big as trust, but right up there.
The significant other wants to know that they can count on you to hold up your part of the bargain.. Say they expect you to cancel that one appointment, or they expect the house to be clean when they get home.. Or whatever.. You don't do it?? Sure, it might be fine the one or two times that you forget, but after awhile, they stop relying on you to do things, and just get reallllly pissed off when you forget the next time. After that, the trust starts to fall right with the responsibility..and then they start treating you like your mom did when you didn't eat your peas.. No dessert? That is code for sooo many other things now that you're an adult.. Same concept though.. My advice to you is.. Make a chart, write stuff down.. Whatever will help you to remember. Don't like cleaning?? Pick up garbage and organize things.. Then run the vaccuum. You've done more than they expect.. And then the next day, you can do laundry or whatever else. Just slowly build up. Then you can expect the "dessert" when they realize that you made an effort.

THE CHILDHOOD FACTOR
You may not know what this is. This is something that I came up with after an exepected talk with my "other". Here is what it is:
Can you laugh with your "other"? Can you giggle at restaurants, or skip through the store holding hands, and just generally be a goofball every now and then? This is the "childhood factor".
Everyone loves to laugh. Even the stuffy Wall Street lawyer types like to loosen their ties and live it up a little. You just have to find that 'niche'. Go scouting a little. Find that ONE little thing that your other liked to do when they were little. Climb trees? Go for it. Explore caves? By all means, spelunk, my friend. He was a Boy Scout? Make a fort out of blankets in the living room. She liked to dance? Be her Fred Astaire. Make their favorite "child" food. PB&J with the crusts cut off? OO-kay!
Whatever you think will make them feel like a kid without a care in the world.
Rake leaves and jump in the pile. Walk in the woods. Push each other on the swings. WHATEVER. They will absolutely love you for making them laugh. And whatever you do, don't forget to have fun with them, laugh with them. You'll love the reaction you get.


This is the end of this blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Enjoy the time you have together.
-Brittany