Know love. Know it not just be experiencing it or hoping for it. But KNOW it. Study it. Learn it. Practice it. Develop it. Express it. There are no greater smarts than that.

True love is constant. Since most things in this life are transient at best, it makes sense to invest time, effort, skills and resources into staying consistent. If you don't know how to be constant, then get coaching on how to create balance in the midst of relationship stress. There is great comfort in having relationship constancy as the safe harbor to return to from the storms of life over the decades.

Don't hope. Decide. Neither love nor greatness (nor great love) are accidental things that we can just hope will work out. Great athletes may hope to win the gold or to "take state" but none of them ever leave it up to hoping and wishing. They dedicate themselves to a choice and then practice in consistently in a disciplined fashion. Why should great love be any different. You can't get greatness on the cheap, friends.

True love is a practice not an occurrence. Work hard to create greatness. Study from the masters, learn effective strategies, practice the best practices and repeat over and over and over again. Earn your relationships braggin' rights and then earn them again.

Laugh well to relate well. Silliness is the foundation of play, laughter, connection, creativity, stress-reduction, optimism and the healing and pleasure-inducing naturally occurring mild narcotic in our brains called endorphins. Silliness also requires a certain level of intimacy where we feel safe enough to "let our guard down" and just be ourselves.

Choose character over chemistry. The "spark", chemistry, and feeling of love are grand and I'm all for it. However, too many relationships are based too much on those transient variables while the lacking character traits are minimized, glossed-over or ignored. In time, beauty fades for every single one of us. Chemistry comes and goes. Emotions shift like the wind. Character alone remains through thick and thin, joy and sorrow, hardship and ease.

Fight for "Us": What could be more romantic than saying, "On you, I never give up. For us, I fight til the end." Edison persevered until he got it right. Hang in there. If something isn't working in the marriage, try something different, but don't get rid of the marriage.

Focus on what matters most in partnership before the marriage and during the marriage: Friendship and respectful communication. Those last. All else comes and goes. Physical appearance, money, possessions and even children are all nice but in the beginning there's the two of you and in the end there is the two of you. Take care of it well in the middle.