How do we smile at each other? Is there a message communicated between us as we smile? Does it convey the depth of our feelings we have for each other? Take note of how our smiles deepen in feeling toward each other as our relationship grows and time passes. Note how our smiles reflect our joy as we pass time together without insignificant complaints.

You've heard it said that we all have something to give. That something is a simple smile. A smile that conveys not only friendship, but simple love. And are we not aware that we should love everyone? We should love all. But we also know that those we love the most are those we know the best.

The more time we spend with our companion, the happier we are. Business and other affairs of life may take us away from home for certain periods of time. Do not allow the association of others outside the home to become more important than the associations we have at home. Do not allow commitments of the world to outweigh the committment of our companionship and relationship at home. Being at home with our partner should be the place we long to be, amid all the duties and responsibilities of life. We should foster a relationship with our companion that turns our steps homeward when our daily duties are accomplished. Companionship with our special loved one is the means of developing and encouraging that love which initially brought us together.

Do not allow the difficulties and distractions of life to become a wedge between us and our loved companion. We must talk to each other. Listen to each other. Smile at and be with each other often. Challenges are so much easier to face when they are perceived as challenges to be solved together, rather than challenges that may divide us.

Our most important and precious possession is our family. Even when we are just a family of two. We are more important than any professional or social club or organization will ever be. We need to spend as much of our free time as is needed in nurturing and growing our relationship. And we should also be willing, in return, to encourage each other in the growth and development of ourselves as individuals. We can be truly proud and supportive of each other's talents and capabilities. And we can do it with a warm and sincere smile.

We can give and we can receive. We can lift and we can support. We can smile, and share that love and encouragement with each other.

And we can do it often.

Bob Curtis has been writing articles, short fiction and poetry for over 30 years. He is the managing director of "Relationship Sense" (http://www.People4People.blogspot.com) and is the president of Nexus Publishing (http://www.nexus4u.blogspot.com). He assists with Blue Romance (http://www.moonlitefire.blogspot.com), a site promoting "positive" romance.