In my closet at home, there is a box. To everyone else the box doesn’t contain anything valuable, but to me it is priceless.

Inside the box is:

• a book of every email Jenny sent me one summer when she was in Montana and I was in Phoenix
• movie tickets from when we dated in college
• cards she has given me on holidays and birthdays
• old airline tickets
• the cassette tape from my answering machine from my old apartment
• mementos from every vacation we’ve taken

It is the box of us. Anything which might be meaningful to me and Jenny, I put in the box.

Nearly every year, I’ll put three or four things in the box. Most of the time Jenny doesn’t know it. I’ll slip a ticket stub in my pocket or will keep the hotel key card and when I get home it goes in the box.

A funny thing happens on occasion when I put something in the box; I find something catching my eye and I pick it up. The item reminds me of a place, time or event. I remember the feelings; I recall how things have changed since that time.

Thirteen years of marriage and I’m yet to open that box without one thing happening—me feeling more love for my wife.

One of the guarantees of marriage is that we will experience days, months, seasons of staleness. It’s unavoidable. It’s unavoidable because you aren’t a perfect couple. Anyone who says they have never been in a marital rut is either in denial or hasn’t been married long enough to know what they are talking about. Every marriage experiences dry seasons. (See: When Your Marriage Feels Like You Co-Exist)

The seasons should not shock a couple. We should understand they will happen, but when they do happen we should not take them lightly. We should proactively respond to these moments to ensure they are only seasons and do not become the defining characteristic of our marriages.

One of the easiest ways to rejuvenate your marriage which does not cost great amounts of money or require elaborate planning is simply remembering and reliving the highlights of your relationship.

The next time you experience a dry season in your marriage, do this:

1. Retell the story of how you fell in love. What first attracted you? Who asked who out? Where did you go on the first date? When did you first know you wanted to marry the other?

2. Recount your favorite vacation. Where did you go? What made the vacation memorable? If you went back, what would you like to do there?

3. Tell of your favorite sexual experience with your spouse. Where were you? What made it memorable? How could you recreate the moment?

4. Describe a time in which you felt most loved by your spouse. What did you feel in the moment? What did your spouse do to make you feel loved? How could your spouse make you feel that again?

A strange thing happens as couples tend to drift toward divorce, they begin to rewrite history. They allow negative emotions of the present to tint how they remember the past. They no longer remember the good times or good experiences. They can even deceive themselves into thinking they never loved one another.

By consistently remembering and retelling the story of how a couple met and fell in love, spouses can recreate those feelings and protect themselves from negativity.

If you are married, something caused you to fall in love with your spouse. Remember it and rekindle it. Chances are it will cause you to feel those feelings again. (See: How to Stay Married in the Tough Times)

What memory causes you to love your spouse the most?

(Important note: this is about you rejuvenating your feelings for your spouse. Do not assume or expect an old item or memento will necessarily cause the same feelings in your spouse which they cause in you. You do what it takes to rekindle your feelings; they can do the same for them.)