Our lives are so busy that work and family responsibilities preclude very much quiet time with our mates. We are so weary when we finally fall into bed that we seldom take the time to really talk to each other or to nurture that specialness that is ours alone.

Look at your schedule and see where some quiet time together can be stolen from the world. If you needed to arrange an important meeting, you would make time. If you had a child in the hospital, you would most certainly make the time to spend hours there.

The time required doesn't have to be huge. The commitment to make that time does. This is the most important person in your life, not someone to be relegated to a list, somewhere below a business requirement and the PTA.

Snatch an hour here and an hour there just to be alone with your love, nurturing the uniqueness of the two of you. Take the kids to their grandparents or get a babysitter. Turn off your blackberry and your cell phone.

You can use your uninterrupted time to do anything you enjoy. Take a walk, or a drive, and talk about yourselves. Play word games or trivia on the Internet, laughing and communicating with each other as you did when you were dating so long ago. Listen to music that was popular when you met and reminisce about the good old days.

Talk about movies you've seen, books you've read, sports, politics, or national events. Talk about plans for the future and how you see your lives together in a year, five years, ten. Talk about your problems and what you can do together to resolve them.

Plan when your next time together will be and what you are going to do. And do it.

Virginia Bola is giving away complimentary copies of "Seven Super Simple Tips: Keep Your Marriage Fresh" from which this article is taken. To obtain your own copy, visit: http://www.graburl.com/x.php?1cs.

• Ever Wonder What Can Blow Up And Wreck Your Love?


• Refreshing Your Relationship: Reviewing Pet Peeves


• Refreshing Your Relationship: Scheduling Some Fun Time


• Relationship Trouble: Lack of Communication


• Relationship Trouble: Lack of Trust


• Relationship Trouble: Lack of Fun


• A Gift Worth Giving--Picking The Perfect Gift--Always!


• Relationship Help: Do You Know What Kind of Eggs Your Partner Loves?


• Your Relationship with Yourself is Equally Important


• Dealing With Difficult Relatives