I still don’t understand where your comment about women being expected to do all the chores comes in.

Sometimes my husband does the dishes (my chore) for me without asking and I think it’s so sweet of him. Sometimes I take the trash out (his chore) and he is always so appreciative. Are both of these chores part of keeping the household going? Sure. But they are also typically done by one person and when the other steps in and does it to be loving it’s a nice gesture and a reminder of our love and commitment to one another. I think that’s what Trent is getting at here.

no, you are doing something that needs to be done in order to keep a house moving.

Dishes are a bad example, though, I will agree on that.

But when my spouse looks at me and says, “I like you so much!”, I melt.

Maybe we have it backwards.

I don’t think I could say “I love you” if I didn’t mean it.

Of course it doesn’t go just for mom, it’s the same for each one of the people I love.

“I love you” – I wouldn’t mind hearing it daily.
Unless of course I myself don’t love the person who says it. Then it would be irritating.

@Tamara – Ha! That is the exact same system DH and I have, only I do the dishes and he takes the cat box. I fully LOATHE cleaning the litter box :)

My exboyfriend and I had a good system, he’d wash the dishes and I’d change the catbox for our (4!) cats – yes, I absolutely preferred cat duty to dish duty! Of course now I’m single so I have the dishes AND the catbox (but only 2 cats now).

I don’t think Trent tried hard enough with this entry, though. Everyone knows the real way to make a marriage last is to buy your beloved a yellow Neon.

“Because one assumes the women should do all the chores, Tom?

Of course.”

Where in Tom’s comment does he say anything even remotely close to that? It seems to me that Tom is saying that dishes may have been a bad example, but cut Trent some slack because the sentiment was good.

You shouldn’t hurt for serveral weeks.

I do like this so much “I love her every day, and most of the time I even LIKE her too!”

Some of my warmest, closest-held memories of my grandmother are her telling me “I like you so much” and it always meant far more than “I love you’s” because the love part – that’s part biological and genetic but the liking, that’s all person.

If you feel you have to come up with something specific you love about someone every single day, how long will it be before you’re grasping at straws?

“Honey, I love your toenails!”
“Darling, I adore your choice of anti-diarrhea medication!”

Give it a rest and it will actually mean something.

It took us a while to figure out how to understand each others “I love yous” but we’re there now. I learned to hear it in his actions and now when I hear him say it, I know it’s heartfelt and meaningful. He learned that even though I say it often, it’s not out of obligation or habit. So, I guess my point is that you have to learn to understand how your partner communicates love. (Then again, he often jokes that he has learned to “speak Riki” over the years so maybe we have more communication challenges than the average couple.)