The text below was found on a card written by a Phoenix therapist, Ed Ford.
The card itself states that these may be gotten "free of charge to give to
others", so I'm going to save on Mr. Ford's printing charges and snailmail
expenses for me and type up the synopsis here.  I share this here because it's
helpful information for those who may be confused about relationships in these
times of changing social roles.  Students of history may note that the ways of
making a relationship have not changed -- this synopsis provides information
that happily married couples have ALWAYS known -- even though many come here
to tell us how "feminism" has somehow changed romance.


                                    LOVE
                         By Edward E. Ford, M.S.W.

Willingness to spend quality time every day alone with another no matter how
your partner behaves and without trying to control the other person.

                                QUALITY TIME

1. Do activities that promote awareness of each other and create
   pleasure through mutual effort.

   such as:                     not:
   playing games                watching TV
   exercising together          going to movies
   working around the house     just being together
   making things                taking a drive
   dancing                      listening to music
   taking a walk                watching others

2. Do your quality time activities alone together, not with others.

3. Do your activities on a regular basis
   -- in weak relationships, short time intervals, daily
   -- in healthy relationships, at least a half hour per day,
      five to six days a week.

To guarantee a close intimacy, you both must be totally committed to spending
quality time alone together on a regular basis.  To make sure quality time
becomes a habit, each person must keep a daily written record for at least two
months of what is done and the time spent doing each activity.


                          QUALITY TIME ILLUSIONS

      -- eating together      -- talking together     -- having sex

These activities do not create strong relationships, they can only enhance a
love that already exists.

                           QUALITY TIME ENEMIES
           -- talking about negative past          -- criticism
               -- asking why when it leads to an excuse --
        -- telling others what they're doing or saying is wrong --
                    -- serious individual problems --


Copyright 1989 by Edward E. Ford


Comment by Donna. -- some of y'all may have gotten tired of the way I go on
and on about my own life with the love of my life.  Thought I'd letcha all in
on the tidbit that, although we don't practice these bits of wisdom on any
kind of a regular basis, the sections on "Love" and "Quality Time" make for a
darned good description of what goes on around here.  With one exception,
though.  We'd disagree about "talking together" not creating strong
relationships, but then the two of us are both highly cerebral and highly
verbal individuals; for us "talking together" could fall into the category of
"playing games" without props (we engage in high-level wordplay and solve
mental challenges together) and "making things" . . . and possibly even
"exercising together".    I notice that the items on his "not" list
under QUALITY TIME all fall into the =general= category of "passively marking
time", and my guess is that it's the passively marking time component he's
warning against.  My other guess is that most of the folks who hang out in
this echo don't do much "passive marking of time", even when we're watching
movies or taking a drive.