I’m celebrating my seventh wedding anniversary this month. My husband and I met when I was 20 and he was 23. We were both finishing college, and embarking on new careers. Then we married and within three months found ourselves pregnant with our first child. You could easily say we grew up together.
As we reach the “seven year itch,” made so famous by movies and media, and I wonder how to keep things “alive” for another seven years, one word keeps resonating in my head: laughter.
No, laughter can’t cure everything, but it surely can help. The stresses of life can be overwhelming. During the course of our lives, we gain and lose jobs, deal with living expenses and possibly mortgages, face adversity, change, loss, and family stress. These things can easily send a marriage spinning into two directions—distant or angry.
I have found, in the ten years my husband and I have known one another, that when we are able to separate ourselves from the stresses of daily life, and are able to laugh with one another, marriage is a happier place. It’s a simpler place. It’s joyous.
Small laughs, chuckles, and full blown belly laughs remind us in marriage that we don’t have to take life so seriously. Laughing together helps us remember why we fell in love in the first place, and reaffirms why we want to continue loving one another. Laughter takes away headaches, can end a fight immediately, and let’s face it—you look much better smiling than frowning.
So the next time you’re wondering what you can do to improve your marriage, don’t underestimate the power of laughter. It’s good for your marriage. It’s good for your soul. Give it a try. I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll be glad you did.