Believe it or not, the “manfriend” has a name. It’s Andrew. Andrew Michael when I’m upset with him.

We’ve been together for six years this month. Like any other couple, we are far from perfect, but he truly is my best friend and has been since college.

Currently, we are working on strengthening our bond by addressing some flaws that we previously neglected to.

The really abridged version of our love story:

He saw me, liked me, chased me. I turned him down. He got a girlfriend, I got jealous. They broke up. I graduated (I’m older), we started dating. We moved in together, and a year after that we were engaged. In 2012, we were supposed to get married. That didn’t work out. We stayed together and moved to Vermont. I got really depressed and started seeing a therapist for seasonal depression and anxiety. I discovered why they say that you can’t love someone else until you first love yourself. My emotional health was hindering my ability to be the best me and a good partner. Then more stuff happened, and here we are, working on us.

The three biggest things that have been helping us (I asked Andrew what his thoughts on this were and he said the exact same three things!):

• Talking (communication is key)
• Showing appreciation and affection
• Spending time together

Of those, I really enjoy spending time with Andrew. Our job can be very time-consuming. Yes, we also work together. We used to pass work off as spending time together, but it is not the same. When we do things one (or both) of us enjoys, we get to know more about each other, we learn what we have in common, and we talk more than we normally would.

What do we do together?

Andrew is a gamer, so this past weekend we played Diablo III.

I like boardgames, so we also played Scrabble.

We both enjoy watching movies, so we went for a walk to our local Redbox and rented four movies to watch while we snuggled on the couch.

Spending time together is great, but it is also important to remember that some alone time is much needed and can be just as great.

Do you have a partner/spouse? How do you keep your relationship going? Post a picture of the two of you doing something together on Instagram and tag #spendingtime. This can be a super fun way for us to share some “date” ideas!

xx
Bethany