Holiday Rent - Gift For My Wonderful Wife

2024 has been a transformative year for my relationship with my excellent wife.

We sought a behavioral therapist last year to help our daughter with her issues hitting my wife. The therapist told us that her issues at home is often the cause of disfunction within the family. We were thinking it was disfunction between my wife and her mom because there is a LOT of turmoil with them. So they spent a year with the therapist to work on them with little progress.

Frustrated with the results, the therapist recommended that my wife and I talk to her together. We started going around August this year. Her goal was to help my wife and I become a team instead of my wife and her mom.

During a session in September, I went alone because my wife was sick. The therapist asked me about some of the issues I have with my wife and her mom and I answered honestly. Then she asked me if I can do anything different. I came up with a short list:

  1. Less time on my phone.
  2. Sit next to her when we watch tv and movies, no phone.
  3. More physical touch (arms, back, etc).

In case you were wondering why you haven't been seeing much of me on Reddit, this is why. I was prioritizing my wife.

With those three things, my wife lit up like a Christmas tree! She's happier, less moody, stays mad at me for less time (4 hours reduced to a mere 10 minutes), and VERY affectionate towards me.

We went to the therapist that week and told her what happened. We all agreed we dont need to come back.

I shared all that to finally answer the question of this contest, what will I do with my rent?

I discovered that physical touch is extremely important for my wife. So, I'm planning a surprise Christmas gift with my rent earnings. She doesn't check Reddit so I'm safe to share with you all.

I'm planning to buy a massage table complete with towels, covers, bath robe, and oils for an authentic massage experience. I'm currently spending time on YouTube educating myself on massage techniques, learning about which type of oils to use, which table I should get, and how to not permantently stain clothing material. She's going to love it!