| Do you know how sometimes in a marriage you make | | | | I am not a mind reader; I never realized that giving |
| communication mistakes and end up hurting them? | | | | away the cake top would bother Jeff. I made this |
| Read on to discover four things that I learned from a | | | | mistake by failing to communicate with him. All I had to |
| wedding cake fiasco that helped me build a better | | | | do was to ask him if he cared about keeping the cake. |
| relationship with my husband. | | | | I would have found out that this tradition was important |
| A Cake Top Experience | | | | to him |
| It is traditional for a bride and groom to save the top of | | | | 3. Romance Builds Memories and Emotional Intimacy |
| their wedding cake to eat on their first anniversary. Of | | | | For Jeff, the cake itself was not important. It was a |
| course, after sitting in the freezer for a year, the cake | | | | way to relive a romantic memory. Later, I learned the |
| is dried out and no longer a delectable dessert. | | | | romantic power of reminiscing to enhance emotional |
| When my husband, Jeff, and I got married, I decided | | | | bonding in a relationship. |
| there was no point in saving the cake top since it | | | | 4. Love is Thoughtful |
| would be stale by our first anniversary. So, I told my | | | | Love is thinking about the other person before thinking |
| mother to take it home and eat it. The only problem | | | | about yourself. I was not being thoughtful of Jeff when |
| with this was that I never discussed it with Jeff. | | | | I gave away the wedding cake. |
| He was quite shocked when he discovered that I had | | | | 5. Forgiveness Moves Us Beyond the Past |
| given it away without asking him. He was looking | | | | Fortunately, Jeff was quick to forgive me for this |
| forward to reminiscing about our wedding as we ate | | | | transgression. In spite of his disappointment, he never |
| the cake, regardless of how tasteless it had become. | | | | held this against me. This could have become a sore |
| There are several marriage lessons that I learned from | | | | spot in our marriage that festered and erupted |
| this wedding cake fiasco: | | | | periodically causing great pain and discomfort. Instead, |
| 1. In a Marriage, Two People Need to Learn to Function | | | | we were able to laugh about it and move forward. |
| as One | | | | Moving Forward |
| This was an eye opening experience for me. When I | | | | Many times life lessons are difficult ones to learn. The |
| was single, my decisions only affected me. | | | | cake had already been eaten. I could not go back and |
| Now as a wife, even the smallest decisions I made | | | | undo the past, but my marriage was stronger for the |
| also affected my husband. | | | | lessons that I learned. |
| 2. Communication | | | | |