Room for Improvement - Relationships (Part 2)

So now I've got some strategies in place to nurture my friendships in 2012...time to move on to family -

Let's start with Hubby :

Whilst I haven't gone into specifics about the dreadful times we went through in the last half of 2011, let me tell you that our relationship has taken somewhat of a "backseat" in our list of priorities...
Fast-track to the present, and we are on auto-pilot to put this house on the market by February...(I know, you're probably asking what the hell I'm doing Blogging...?) We've "split" ourselves into jobs, pretty basic really, but Hubby is doing all the physical work around the house, and my job is to keep the household going, whilst also running 99% of the business.
Just before the end of the year, something insignificant (in hindsight it was probably fuelled by PMT) threw me into a bit of a tantrum and I lashed out at Hubby and said some very nasty things ... the tears flowed and turned into uncontrollable sobbing and it generally wasn't *pretty*. Hubby himself said a few things in anger and for a split second I thought "this is it - our marriage is over"... however without knowing it, that was our way of letting out a lot of pent-up emotion we were both carrying, and to my surprise, Hubby actually *heard* some of the stuff I said (or yelled at him) and the next day we were able to talk more calmly about how much our circumstances have impacted on our relationship...
We had a couple of relaxing days during which neither of us did much *work* and it was lovely to have my hubby back...then we heard about the death of the amazing Kristian Anderson . Hubby announced that he will be getting some health checks done in the next couple of months, his whole attitude seems to have changed a little...he is very aware of the fact that the girls are teenagers and don't really want to hang out with their parents all that much etc etc, but when I was leaving with Maddie later that day to drop her off to a friend's, he came up and gave her a hug and said, "Chookie,we should never leave the house angry with each other or without saying good-bye"...which was lovely because usually he tries to stay out of their way (he leaves the lovey-dovey stuff to me)
So I think my marriage is on its way to huge improvements this year...only today Hubby surprised me by "asking" me out to dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant...now this is HUGE for him, all the organising in the family is left up to me, so much so that I even have to arrange nights out for us - but it looks like we've turned a corner here.



The other relationships that need Improvement are with my mum and Michael's parents...
They are all in their late seventies, and they are showing signs of ageing...I don't want to have regrets when they're gone...so let's just say I've been giving this a lot of thought and have decided a while back to choose my battles, or better still to choose *not* to battle...Sure they are infuriating at times, and a lot of what they say is annoying...but surely I can let it go and then let out my frustrations at the RPM class the next day ... much better for everyone's health...
Last night we dropped our girls off to Hubby's parents for a couple of days. That will give them some quality time, as well as giving us some time to catch up on work without a) having to taxi them around several times a day and b) worrying that they're not having a good holiday...


So I will make a concerted effort from now on to nurture my marriage by taking regular time to talk about things rather than letting it all build up until it all explodes like a volcano, regular *dates* are also on the plan...I think I'll just wait and see whether Hubby takes the hint and keeps up the momentum with this one.


Aaah 2012 - my wish for this year is to end it in better shape physically and emotionally than I started it.