Communicate often:
Send them grocery lists, Forward any payment reminders
Mandatory invites to your cousin’s wife’s sis-in-law’s graduation party and tell them why it is mandatory by showing a meme you made of your mom( because you love her)
Let them communicate too:
Don't send me grocery lists while I'm parking the car in our garage.
I don't want to see your family but 100 bucks an hour might make me consider it.
Co-sign a loan
Nothing brings two people together, not even marriage, than signing a loan for 30 years for a house you can't afford.
Whenever you think you've had enough of the relationship, the monthly installments remind you why you loved them in the first place. All those memories are triggered by the thought of staggering debt being handled alone. In this economy? No, I'll remember their smile from 9 years ago, and smile myself.
Get fat (and happy) together
There was a time when maybe you went to the gym with your partner. He had six pack and you could get on a scale without shuddering.
But now, maybe you just sit down and eat junk food on a Friday night, with non-alcoholic beer and just live-it-up like you did in your twenties. Maybe watch a repeat of a movie that you both have watched till you can mouth the dialogues along with the cast. For us it is Napoleon Dynamite.
Seriously though
One of the reasons that the passion is alive because of your shared history, the love you share and the inside jokes you made along the way.
You find someone who is a witness to your story and you in turn have witnessed theirs, the overwhelming monotony of everyday life broken by your craziness.
We also game together on occasion so having common hobbies always help.
