Today, Ramil and I celebrate four years of being husband and wife. Dare I say four years of wedded bliss? Most of the time, yes. Because honestly speaking, our four years as a wedded couple has been more peaceful and relaxed than our five years together before getting married. We almost never fight. We have more time together – intimate and otherwise. We are content, happy, and satisfied.

This does not mean that we are the sweetest couple in the neighborhood. In fact, I don’t often find ourselves in that lovey-dovey sweet moment we used to have when we were just boyfriend-girlfriend. We now rarely surprise each other with fancy gifts.

Today, when we woke up in the morning, we smiled at each other, said ‘Happy Anniversary’, and then exchanged a kiss. The whole day passed without anything out of the ordinary. In other words, it was just like our usual day. If this happened five years ago or even just three years ago, I would have been in a bad mood the whole day. However, today I felt content and secure. I realized that as our marriage grows in years, it needs the fancy stuff lesser and lesser.

Something as simple as waking up earlier than me in the morning to clean the house and cook breakfast surely beats dinner at any fancy restaurant. Never failing to kiss me lovingly, hug me tightly, or look at me adoringly, also beats getting expensive jewelry.

We still love holding hands, sometimes even if one of us has to carry our son as well but I’m happy that just four years after saying our ‘I dos’ we’ve moved beyond defining our relationship with special dates and expensive gifts. They’re still nice to have of course, but they’ve ceased to be something that our relationship needs. Now I realize that romance has so much deeper meaning between married couples.

Tags: Marriage, Relationships