When my wife and I first started dating and it was clear it was turning into something serious, we sat and had a long talk and set up ground rules. We both had (have!) a lot of baggage and some bad habits from past relationships that we didn’t want to repeat with each other because we really, truly, sincerely wanted our relationship to work. There was a lot of crying involved but not because of anger, just because relationships, especially new, can be scary; especially if you don’t want to fuck things up.

Those ground rules became the bulk of our wedding vows. We remind each other of these rules periodically when needed. I’m going to share the first one and talk about it a little bit. This particular rule is one of the hardest for me and Nicole reminds me at least every other month.

I promise not to keep my feelings, good or bad, to myself.

TERRIFYING, RIGHT???