We have had our ups and downs over the years, and we have sought counselling at various points of our relationship when we have felt we needed it. We believe in seeking help before the wheels fall off not when it’s too late. We also believe that if we were to walk away from one another, it would be because we exhausted every option to fix what was broken. Too many people seem to bail out of relationships too easily. As with anything that is truly rewarding, relationships take work.

Our favourite thing to do together is anything that involves the beach…it’s our happy place. We also love hanging out at home with our kids. We have family movie nights or dinners at the dining table. Our favourite date night is the movies. We go every couple of weeks. And we love drinking wine together. We’re not big drinkers anymore at all, but we do love relaxing on the couch with a good glass of red wine.

We have faced some challenges in our 21 years together but as I said before, we have sought counselling when needed. Probably the core reason we are still together though is because we are both good communicators. We consider ourselves “growth mindset people” and have worked hard on ourselves, individually, in the last few years. Every day, we strive to be better partners, parents, friends, human beings…and communication is a key part of this. We use a “when you, I feel framework” to communicate with one another to try to see a situation from the other’s point of view. For example, “when you ignore me and get on your phone, I feel unimportant.” It really helps develop empathy and has definitely helped our relationship.

My favourite quality about Gareth is his fierce love for me and the kids; he is very loyal. I also love that he wants to make a difference in the world. He is a good person. My favourite physical feature about him are his eyes…they are a lovely green colour. They are also very kind. Overall, he is just my rock.