100 Things That Make Me Happy Besides Money

I know, I know, this topic is intimately related to #6, but I still feel that it deserves its own spot on my 100 Things That Make Me Happy Besides Money list because I get a happy, satisfied feeling when we reach a solution.

Quite often we talk about our fighting patterns and how we view problems. I think our view of problems is one of the reasons that we will be married for the rest of our lives. We see problems and the fights that deal with them as vehicles for growth within our marriage.

First and foremost, the fights (which are not always ugly fights, by the way, but are usually discussions about a rising problem) serve as communication. Instead of bottling up what bothers us, we talk about it. Right then. We try to work it out.

But this is a life-long committment we have made to each other, so we recognize that most, if not all, of our problems just simply cannot be solved in one sitting. Our lives and personalities are complex, and so are the problems that arise from meshing two such lives and personalities together. There is no quick fix.

So we talk, and we argue, and we test solutions. Then we talk some more, make suggestions, and each of us just keeps working on our end of the problem. There are many iterations of this process, for many different problems, going on all the time in our relationship. We are working, testing, retesting, and solving all the time.

And every now and then, I feel like we have finally solved something, finally figured it out, and that’s when I feel happy and accomplished.

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