Quiet mornings brought peaceful reflection. The sun shone through the curtains across the hall, illumining the cribs. Idina made a makeshift cover. Cranky triplets were not in today's cards.

She set her laptop up on the sofa, nervous. This was not fun, but it was necessary. She scratched Therapist off her itinerary for the day and smiled at herself as the call pinged.

Partway through, she heard the door to the master bedroom creek open and Aaron peaked through. She gave him a silencing jester, then made a little heart with her hands as he stepped back, closing the door. Her husband reciprocated with a smile. Proud of you, he mouthed, making her smile and feel warm inside. She giggled, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.

"What?" Angelika asked.

"My husband woke up," Idina said. "He's proud of me." She felt herself blushing again and hid her face away, still giggling. "I asked him to give us some privacy."

Angelika nodded along. "Is everything good with your marriage?"

Idina nodded. "Mhm." She paused. "Aaron should wear his shirt less," she mused, staring at the corner of the screen, and smiling to herself, not realizing she had spoken aloud.

"Is your sex life unsatisfactory?"

"What?" Idina asked, coming back. "No, well, I mean, I've been out of it for the past few weeks, but Aaron doesn't mind. He never does, he's so sweet like that," she rambled. "We'll definitely be fixing that I'm sure you know just not in the hotel with the kids near." Idina blinked, feeling herself zoning out again, thinking about her husband. Trying to sound sincere, she tried again to reassure Angelika that everything was perfect in her marriage. "I love my husband so much," she mumbled, hands curled by her face, chewing on a nail.

"So, all is well?"

Idina nodded again. "Yeah, it's almost too good to be true between the two of us. Well, I know I cause him some stress because of everything, but I'm not trying to hurt him. And I'm working on myself, which is all I can do right now. I want to be better for him."

"For yourself too?'

"And for me," she admitted. "But Aaron makes me want to be better when it's not enough for myself. And," she giggled again, "he's proud of me."

"Are you proud of yourself?"

"Sometimes," Idina frowned. "Other times I feel like I'm a total loser." She sighed, then looked at the time. It was almost over. She did not need a downer session today. "I feel good right now," she added. "Back in control."

"Alright," Angelika said with a smile. "Anything else you want to talk about?"

"I'm just worried that this life isn't what he signed up for," she admitted. "We both said in good times and in bad, but I doubt he was thinking about something like this."

"You did not sign up for it either," Angelika said. Idina perked up, a silent "oh" on her lips. "And while I can't claim I know what he thinks, I can tell you that statistically, people who want their marriages to work- whether they are 'in love' or not, tend to have the highest success rates. This applies to any type of relationship: you both have to want it. And from everything you've told me, your husband wants this life."

"I want it too," Idina said. "But I'm still worried that he could be happier somewhere else. With someone else."

"Why?" She asked. Idina wrinkled her nose, not liking the question.

"I'm not a very good partner, and definitely not the woman he married."

"Okay, we are going to do a little exercise."

"I already did squats," she joked.

"Not that kind," she chuckled. "I want you to write out some lists, and I'll help you." Idina nodded, reaching for a pen and paper from her purse. "I want you to write out things Aaron does for you that are little. Something he doesn't have to do them, but he does they make you smile as you did earlier. Next, I want you to write down the reasons you think he married you. And finally, what you think you could be doing better."

Idina nodded, humming a tune to herself, asking for advice every once in a while, almost always met with the direction to do what she felt was best. When she was finished, she read them off.

1) Brings me breakfast in the mornings, cheek kisses, calls me "love" like I'm the definition of it, enthusiastic and supportive, does things even when he doesn't have to just to make someone happy, for example: when he has free time, he does something with or for the kids

2) Talking to me made him happy, he thinks I'm hot, we both have a theatrical background, we got along / we "clicked"

3) I need to stop being so difficult, I should be nicer, I need to work harder. I have to stop worrying about him. I should do nice things for him.

"That's a good start. I want you to take a look at your second list, has any of that changed recently?"

"No." Idina muttered. "We still love talking, he still thinks I'm hot, the theatre thing can't change. We still click. We love going out together."

Angelika nodded along. "For your third list, let us go item by item and see if there's anything we can work on."

"Well," Idina said. "Most of them I am working on, although I could be more aware of myself."

"Good, and the last point, what do you think you could do about that?"

"Do stuff for Aaron," she said, blushing. "But I'm not sure what."

"Okay, we'll come back to that. Let's go over your first list."

Idina read it over, making a little comment. "I could do that," she said at the first, "already do that," she continued, a smile creeping up on her face. "You're wicked," she teased.

Angelika smiled. "I want you to keep that list," she said. "I want you to keep in mind that Aaron does those things for you, his wife. You have a lack of confidence. Also, you can use it as a map of things to do for him when you are down."

"I think I get it," Idina said. "Thanks."