<p>You Guys have come up with some good points, however, buying each other expensive items and spoiling each other for what ever reason is great, after all, we all work hard and if we can afford it, whay not?</p>
<p>But it takes a lot more than that to really validate a relationship, in 2000 my Wife was diagnosed with Cancer, it was so bad that the Doc insisted on major Surgery that Day, it was like a punch in the Face, that's the only way I can describe it.</p>
<p>Long story short, that Day there were no OR's available at Mission Hospital, so it was delayed untill the next Day, then the next untill finally, Friday night at 9pm we finally got Her in, nobody knew which way it was going to go, the surgery lasted 6 hours, it felt like 6 years. Doc came down and said everything was fine, he'd removed everything, scoped the area, now we just had to work through the 6 week recovery...</p>
<p>It was tough, taking care of our Daughter, making sure she got too and from School, my wife couldn't walk for two weeks, I had to work when I could, my Company were really supportive but I still found myself working 50 hours a week at odd hours, plus the financial part, my wife owned a Hair Salon at the time, that was a whole other story, even more stress...</p>
<p>Fast fwd 6 weeks, we'd made it, problem was, we went to a Dr's visit and they did an ultrasound, the Cancer was back...this time it was worse because now we knew exactly what to expect, my Wife was terrified, I drove home in a daze, it's not possible to articulate the exact feeling.</p>
<p>Again, we went through another Surgery, another week at Hospital, I'd already made Friends with all the Staff at the Hospital on both shifts, plus all the Security Guards, from the previous time, after all, I spent longer at the Hospital than they did, I also got to know a few of the other Families going through the same thing, I would talk to them and try to help them through it...two Families lost loved ones that week....</p>
<p>I'd hate to see anyone else go through what we did but I remember thinking all the time that this was a War, we had to fight all the battles one by one and most of all, I kept reminding myself that at the end of it all it would make us better People, we never know what we've got 'till it's almost gone....it also makes one a lot more compassionate and able to feel others pain, since then, if someone tells me that a loved one is very ill with whatever I don't just say "Oh no, what a shame" I know exactly what they're going through....it's made us both better people, it strengthened our relationship far more than I could ever imagined and it also changed my outlook in every other aspect of my life.</p>
<p>This might sound trivial to most, but to give an example, Cycling, I love to ride, and going through what we did changed my whole outlook on life, and this is an example, if I'm riding up a tough Climb, and I'm exhausted, my Legs are burning I NEVER turn back, I think to myself, "This is nothing, when I'm at the top it won't matter" 3 weeks ago I rode 62 miles with the Flu, 2500ft of climbing in 5 miles, everyone told me to quit, I wouldn't, I now have the same attitude with every other, or most other, aspects of my life.</p>
<p>We never bemoan the fact that we can't (comfortably) buy a nice House in Irvine, it doesn't matter, we both like nice things, my Wife loves Handbags and Shoes and has lots of them (sometimes I think she's a Centipede)....but we never have to validate anything anymore....it doesn't matter....</p>
<p>I'm sorry for the long and unusualy serious post but to me these Days, unfortunately, it takes a lot more than an LV Handbag or Tiffany Bracelet to truly validate a relationship....</p>
<p>Love each other, love your Friends and your Pets, make the most of every Day, like I said, you never know what you've got untill it's almost gone </p>
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