Elly: "Our Secret to Happy Marriage"

During a recent visit to my husband's childhood home, I found out that he has some mad yo-yo skillz. Not only can he "walk the dog" (he makes this hilarious bark for our daughter every time he does it), but "rock the baby" and "pop the clutch"! Six and a half years of marriage--how could I not know this about him? What if we were on a game show and I had been asked about this?

I've gleaned many good tips about marriage along the way, but the thread that runs through them all is to never stop learning. My husband's unexpected strengths--his patience, his kindness, his unconditional love, his yo-yo finesse--are all things that I couldn't have possibly known about him when I said, "I do." But, without learning to let him be him, learning to listen, learning to be wrong, learning to love, just learning how to be married, I'm not sure where we'd be now or where we'd end up. And I can't imagine what our marriage would be like without those moments where I say to myself, "Well, this is new!" while Doug "loops the loop."

-- Elly