Lessons on Turning Your Marriage Green!
-By LatterDayBride
September 14th 2009
Thanks for coming back to visit our Blog. If you have a cool idea you would like to share with other brides, even something you are doing for your wedding click here to see how to submit your very own blog entry!!! If you are interested in seeing something in particular on our blog that you don't see, please don't hesitate in contacting us. See you next time!
Use Him Up and Wear Him Out
by Bonnnie Humphrey
Photography by Digital Izatt Photography
My mom must really have been ahead of her time. As a kid, the phrase: “Use it up and wear it out” was commonplace. No need to buy something new, if we already have something that works. Despite feeling like I was the only kid on the block with recycled goods, I have a feeling though that I wasn’t alone.
And now the “green” trend is upon us. I suppose someone finally took their mother’s counsel to heart and mainstreamed it, trendied it up a bit and voila—using up what we have, making do with household cleaners and food from the garden, wearing hand-me downs, oops I mean recycled clothing, has now become vogue.
So life is greener. The trend is officially upon us with no end (hopefully no end) in sight. And once again, I find myself taking my mom’s wisdom to heart in my marriage, except I changed it up a bit. When it comes to my husband, I have decided to “use him up and wear him out too,” but never with the intention of discarding him when I’m through. On the contrary, the relationship only gets sweeter with time.
Before I have a mad rush of men like an angry mob at my door, let me explain. I am not suggesting that using him up means—more taking out the trash, doing dishes, mowing the yard or cleaning out the garage (all of which leads to quickly wearing him out, especially if it comes with a hefty side dish of nagging to see the job through to completion). Instead, think of it this way…
At the onset of this great new adventure in your life called marriage, think to yourself: How am I going to make this the best ride of my life? Make your husband such an interconnected, sinuously entwined part of you, that your life becomes a rich fusion of you as a couple—not just two individuals who happen to be married. So, how do we do it?
Use him up—all the great things about him that make you laugh, use them up and invite them into your life together. Use up every excuse to find time to do what you enjoy together. Use every ounce of love in your soul and give it to him. Use every heartbreak and disappointment that life will throw at you to bind the two of you together. Use up every drop of strength and support you can give to each other. Use every smile and “I love you” to get you through the day.
Use them up and when you feel you are completely exhausted with life’s demands and challenges and totally worn 
out—this great miracle occurs. You will find that even though you both use up every bit of love the other has to offer, if you continue to provide them for each other, they will continue to come.
Not a bad gig in this day and age. I guess you could call that love that occurs in marital bliss a “sustainable fuel.” So, even in marriage—living a “green” life can be a pretty good thing. Want a couple more tips on how to produce that sustainable fuel of marital blissful love? Here are five…
1. Block out toxins and pollutants—Once you are married, you will quickly discover (if you haven’t already) just how to push each other’s buttons. You will know exactly what will create a source of friction and drive a wedge between the two of you. Block them out!
2. Manage your garbage—Make sure your emotional garbage is biodegradable. You want it to completely disappear and fade away. Don’t create a pile of un-recyclable, unburied hatchets that will sit for years as an emotional landfill.
3. Grow green—Shift gears here back to the free capitalist world and think money. Be sure to work together when it comes to your finances and save some money. Build your nest egg and if you do it in your new green lifestyle, you can laugh and tell your parents that money really does grow on trees—or something of the like.
4. Conserve energy—Fueling a raging angry fire consumes vast amounts of energy; energy that you could be spending to build and uplift your marriage, rather than fight with each other. There is an old adage of advice given to probably every newly married couple—“Never go to bed angry.” While this holds a lot of validity, I have also found that most arguments occur when couples are tired. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just go to bed. Then, wake up in the morning refreshed and start the day off with a smile, an apology and a kiss. All is then forgotten. Don’t waste your energy.
5. Go organic—grow from the heart. Build your marriage with only the finest, most natural ingredients. Nothing but the best for the health and happiness and success for your marriage.
So whether you are adopting your mother’s wisdom or joining the green movement or some combination of both, energize your marriage with sustainable fuel, use only the best organic ingredients and keep pollutants and toxins at bay. Use him up and wear him out and you will find that the more you give to each other, the more you will have to give.
Leave a Reply
