When Joint Base Lewis-McChord spouse Sharla McCutchen finally has a moment alone with her husband, SFC Dale McCutchen, currently deployed to Iraq, she makes use of every precious second. "Being apart for such a long period can leave a married couple, or any couple for that matter, a little disconnected. It is very important to have quality one on one time with your spouse as soon as you can after a deployment. When my husband comes home, spending time with our kids is a number one priority, but after a few days I need my time with him." McCutchen said.

Military couples face constant and long deployments, field training exercises, and other job related absences that can make finding alone time difficult. Military organizations, such as Army Community Services, encourage couples to have date nights. Many units have couple retreats yearly to help facilitate some couples team building activities.

Many spouses such as, Savannah Koch, reconnect best at home. "We reconnect at night after we put the kids to sleep. We lay in bed and talk about our day, after all the chaos that happens its nice to be able to know you always have someone there on your side."  Fellow JBLM spouse, Bri Whitehead agrees that it is the little moments in life that are best for reconnecting.

"I write ‘I love you' in random places. On the bathroom mirror in lipstick, out of the blue in a text message, in "Morse code" on his arm. It has always been our thing and it reminds us that we are still here together on this crazy rollercoaster called life."

Other couples enjoy getting out of the house and exploring the local area together. The Pacific Northwest offers many local attractions that can rekindle the flame. Wine tasting is a time tested romantic adult activity. Wines Northwest (Winesnw.com) and VisitYakima.com both offers a comprehensive listing of area wineries.

Instead of the average dinner and a movie, some couples choose to cook dinner together by taking a local cooking class. The Seattle area offers many locations for a couple to attending cooking classes such as the Blue Ribbon Culinary Center. There area also local companies such as Kitchen 2 Kitchen, where a couple can go make several dinners together that they can then take home to serve during the upcoming week.

Sometimes it is not so much what you do that encourages a reconnection in a marriage, but simply being together and getting out of the house. McCutchen agreed, "The best thing I feel we can do is get an overnight babysitter and set out to have a romantic night together. Being together, enjoying each other and getting back to where you were when they left, it is almost like falling back in love. I like to spend the night in a nice hotel, whirlpool tub, and bottle of wine and get back to a place of intimacy. Being able to just be together on a deeper level makes their return home all the more special."