Long Relationships

Today we have a special guest post from my friend Jenera. She’ll be writing for Long Relationships this week.

I heard on TV today that the average married couple only talks 12 minutes a day to each other. 12 minutes a day. Out of 1440 minutes in a day, the average couple is only talking for 12. That’s ridiculous to me.

My husband is a long haul trucker. He is gone 7-14 days at a time, home for a day or two, then back out on the road. Lucky for us, we live in the cell phone age. It is the key to the success of making our marriage work I think.

I would say on average I talk to my husband for about 120 minutes out of every day. Usually it’s a few minutes here, a few minutes there. Every morning I call him when I wake up just to say ‘I love you’ and ‘Good morning’. Every night before bed, I call him to tell him ‘Good night’. There is not a morning that starts or a night that ends without a phone call.

Sometimes, I admit, it’s a bit annoying to get a phone call at the most inopportune time just so that he can tell me something he heard on the radio. But on those days when I only get a couple of calls, I realize how much I miss it.

Experts say you should try to talk to your spouse about anything other than bills, kids, and work for at least a couple minutes a day. I’m here to tell you, it’s true. I would say 50% of our conversations are about random things we see on TV, hear on the radio, or see around town. It makes it interesting and keeps things light.

Now, when he’s home, it’s altogether different. That first night he is home, we spend no less than an hour talking in bed in the dark. About anything and everything, even silly stuff like the latest Spongebob Squarepants episode. Many times those late night talks are our time to catch up on the important stuff, to deal with things that are bothering us, or to talk about things in our past or in our future. I live for those late night talks. It keeps us strong.

I feel extremely fortunate that I have a husband that I can communicate with. Sure, it’s not always perfect. But I think it makes our lives easier, especially with him on the road all the time. I am not sure we’d be able to keep our marriage strong if it wasn’t for the cell phones that keep us connected daily.

Make it a point to call your significant other at least once a day just to say ‘Hi’. Even if you have to leave a voicemail, it will make all the difference in the world when your loved one hears your voice.