When your word means everything, be careful what you say.
In a relationship, both parties rely on trust, respect, and understanding. It took being married to learn this lesson the hard way. Being married is not all flowers, chocolate, hand holding, and love. So when something goes wrong, and one person is upset, people quickly learn to say “I’m sorry.” Those two words may be the two most dangerous words in a relationship.
“I’m sorry,” quickly becomes the get out of jail card in a relationship. Most of the time “I’m sorry” is more intended as “I don’t like that you’re upset, but I’d like this fight to be over with.”
The trouble with this is that “I’m sorry” can only get you so far. At some point, you have to care enough to fix the problem, so there is no need for “I’m sorry.” Otherwise, you’re going to lose the person you’re with. Either by their doing or yours, clearly, someone doesn’t care enough to accept a get out of jail card any longer.
Words mean nothing if you’re not willing to do the work for them to mean something. If the other person in the relationship means something to you, work hard to keep them. More importantly, show them that your word still means something.
When your word means everything, be careful what you say. Or soon, your word will mean nothing.
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About Christine Bofenkamp
I am Murphy’s law in action (if you doubt that, ask my husband). I like to say I'm a classy lady when in reality I put on red lipstick and run around in my pajamas. I’m a parent to a teen, wife to an exceptional husband and dog mom to two unruly doods (Rumple and Rosie). I try to swear less, sometimes this cannot be avoided, and captain cuss word shows up (this usually occurs directly after Murphy's law has kicked in, it's a vicious circle).
