I wanted to add something about the whole "put the Princess on the pedestal" thing.
I too did this -- BIG time. And so did my wife's parents, and many of her friends, and even one of our adult daughters. Through many long, heartfelt conversations, my wife shared with me that she HATED this, and that she'd grown to learn that IT ACTUALLY HURT HER when people did that. That she needed to know that she was loved AS SHE IS, FAULTS, FLAWS AND ALL, and not just the IMAGE of what we WANTED her to be.
Boy, was I guilt of THAT!!! I've learned over the past two years to learn to love my wife all over again, from scratch, FOR WHO SHE IS, and not who I -- if I just phrased things juuuust right, and minded my Ps and Qs, and did all the right things -- WANTED her to be.
