The keys to a successful relationship

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

What do you think is the key to lasting romantic relationships?

When I saw this prompt, I realized it was impossible to just a newer down to one thing being the end all, be all key to romantic relationships. So I chose three. Granted, two of those tie very closely with each other.

Honesty

Without honesty, there is no trust. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it is better than any lie or deception.

Being honest doesn’t mean just telling your partner the truth. It also means being honest with yourself: your wants, your needs, and your desires. If you weren’t honest, then you are living a lie

Communication

Tying very closely to honesty as communication. Being truthful is important, but perhaps equally important is the ability to communicate effectively. This doesn’t just mean, telling the truth all the time. And it doesn’t mean lying to protect someone’s feelings. It means knowing how to talk to your partner. It includes going beyond just the act of hearing them and being able to listen to what they’re saying. Those my marriage and my LTR ended because there was a breakdown in communication. Other issues stemmed from that; but the breakdown and communication was the beginning of the end in both cases

The ability and desire to grow together

The other night, Veronica and I were talking about the difference between growing, growing together and growing apart.

People change over the course of time. That is one of life in escapable truths. The question becomes whether or not they grow. By growing, I mean, maturing, developing a stronger sense of compassion for others, evolving. As we all know, sometimes people end up “taking a few steps backwards“ as they get older.

Bringing another person into the mix changes everything entirely. It’s very easy for two people in a relationship to “grow apart“. People change over time, and not every relationship is made to last. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But growing apart definitely puts a shelf-life on a romantic relationship.

The relationships that make it are the ones where both partners grow together. On a personal note, I must admit that I fully haven’t mastered the whole concept of “growing with someone”. Or in the very least, I haven’t been able to find a partner who has been able to grow with me. If I had, I would probably be happily married now.

Meanwhile

Today is Memorial Day here in the United States. It is a holiday that was established to pay tribute to soldiers who gave their life defending this country – despite whatever The Orange Man tries to tell people.

Memorial Day is also widely accepted as the “unofficial start of summer“ here in America. The weather has been unseasonably, cool and rainy where I’m at; so it doesn’t feel a whole lot like summer right now.

The bigger thing looming for me on the horizon right now is kid 1’s high school graduation. He graduates this Friday. I’ll be making a road trip on Wednesday night to go attend his commencement ceremony.

To say that I am extremely proud of him would be a gross understatement. I’m sure I’ll be talking a little bit more about this later this week, but I do have all kinds of emotions within me over this.

High school graduation is probably the biggest moment in a young person‘s life. And some ways, it’s the unofficial end of his childhood. And while I’m excited about what’s to come for him still, and the way that our relationship will continue to evolve, I am a little sad about what is ending in what I unfortunately had to miss of him growing up because of my divorce. I’m trying to process all this over the next few days so that I don’t turn into a blowing idiot at the moment “Pomp and circumstance” is played.

Following up

Skubal is as Skubal does

I wrote a post yesterday about how attending major league baseball games is the one luxury that I will splurge upon myself for.

I also attended a Tigers game yesterday, thanks to a free ticket that I got from a friend of mine. The game was very nearly a sellout. It was the first win in the four game series for the Tigers against the Cleveland guardians. Tarik Skubal, the Tiger starting pitcher. through his first complete game, gave up no runs and only two hits. He did the throwing just under 100 pitches. It was quite simply the greatest outing of his major league career.

I had a couple beers at the game so I had a little bit of a buzz going. I wasn’t slashed or anything by any means, but I was feeling good. The near sellout crowd was likewise feeling good after such a decisive victory. There were a couple families who asked me to get a photo of them as the game was ending. I was happy to oblige.

I cannot say enough about the happiness of attending a baseball game brings me. When you see thousands of people around you having fun, whether they’re reuniting with friends, kids who are just soaking everything in, our older fans who are reconnecting with a piece of their youth, a baseball park may very well be my favorite place on planet Earth.

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