Inkandescent Public Relations

Gifts To My Future Wife

By Paul of Richmond, VA

This is the way I would like for my future partner (hopefully) and I to approach a loving, committed relationship.

My spontaneous gifts to you:

• Foot massage while we are watching a movie on our comfortable couch
• On a day where you have been busier than I, making you dinner or taking you out to dinner
• Cleaning the kitchen after you have labored in preparing a delicious meal for us, while you relax
• Washing your car and keeping the gas tank full for you
• Massage your neck and shoulders when you are tired
• Long passionate kisses that lead to other marital fun
• Walk up behind you, put my arms around your waist, and tell you how lucky I was that you chose me
• Be there for you whenever you need to talk … ready to listen
• Help you achieve whatever you are passionate about
• Tell you every day, in some way, that you are an answer to prayer and that I treasure you
• Touch you in such a way that it brings you pleasure (when we are alone)
• Go to bed naked and enjoy the warmth of each other’s bodies (often)
• Day trips to nowhere in particular…just create new memories and shared experiences with my wife
• Make you a fruit smoothie or your favorite cup of coffee every morning that we are home together
• Communicate often during the day, calls, text messages, etc…to let you know where I am, how I’m doing, and to check on you
• When we are with others in social settings, sneak you a wink and a smile to let you know I am your guy…and always will be
• Saying please and thank you because I respect and value you

Practical gifts to you:

• Keeping my body fit so you will always desire me
• Showering and shaving each night before I lay down beside you, because I think it is important that I always smell good and my skin feels it’s best when sleeping with you
• Talk about everything … no secrets
• Aside from whatever purposeful task God has for us at any given time…you come first
• I will have your back — always
• Be equally supportive of your children as I am my girls
• Show your children through my words and actions that I love their mom and will take care of her
• Encourage you in whatever way I can
• Let you win most of the disagreements :-)
• Have date nights as often as possible
• I will never lose sight that you are a gift from God
• When I screw up, practice humility by asking for your forgiveness
• Honor our marriage vows
• During the holidays, we share equal time with each other’s families
• Share the upkeep responsibilities of our home with you. I realize there is no such thing as “woman’s work”
• Never going to bed angry. If the issue can’t be resolved that night, we express our love for one another and agree to resume the conversation at another time

This is How I Will Love You Now

By Hope Katz Gibbs

I find it breathtaking how months later your scent lingers in my thoughts, my dreams, my deepest wishes — knowing that I will never see you again

This agonizing understanding startles my soul and steals my breath. I calm myself by reviewing our two years together again … and again … for I am desperate to discover what I did wrong, what I could have, should have, done better

To keep you from letting me go

Yet, I know that if I had just done something, everything, differently I wouldn’t have been the person I have fought to become — and that would have been a bigger disaster than our breakup

Perhaps that is the point of the quest to find your soul mate. To discover the one person who embraces all that you are

The worries, the wine, the wild, wacky, and the wonderful … me, without hesitation

The reality is clear. This complexly complicated person that loved you so dearly and deeply is not who or what you wanted. Perhaps you didn’t / don’t even know what you long for

What I know is that we both took a chance, learned much, and lost something precious. This is the outcome of our experiment

The angelic optimist knows our love was deeper than the data. The logician knows this is how love sometimes spends itself

At last, I have come to accept the finality of our goodbye. Letting go of me is what you wanted, needed, demanded: Cold turkey. No regrets. No tears

Yours again is the freedom to define your time, design your home, sleep alone in your bed — or not

What remains for me is the memory of your perfect touch, your velvety skin beneath my fingertips, your soft lips on mine.

The taste of our remarkable romance will forever live in my heart. This is how I will love you now.