So, I had a family gathering this past weekend, and some of the wife's cousins are about the same age as she is, but we don't see them often... it's probably been about a year since we've seen this particular couple. Her cousin is married as well and has two young kids.

Anyway, the cousin comes into the reception hall and gives me a big hug and says "OMG, you look great, no, wait, you look AMAZING!" I thanked her for the compliment and went back to doing my thing. My wife was coming over to greet her from the other side of the venue, but I assume over heard/ saw this exchange, because she came up to me, and gave me a big hug and kiss.

I asked her "What was that for?" (I know what it was, but wanted to see what the hamster told her to say). She said "For helping set all this up." (I helped with a bit of the decorating) I just smiled at her and said, "No problem."

Knowing what I know now about how the female hampster thinks, I totally recognize this as preselection at it's finest. She got validation from another female about her "good" choice in mates.

While working on myself has made a drastic improvement in my/ our relationship, I've found that, if you want your woman to want you more, you don't need to impress her... you need to impress OTHER women. She should want/ need you, but if she's not getting the "this is my man" feelz to keep the other women away, you are that much closer to her branch swinging.