Though I realize I will break the hearts of women everywhere with the following introduction, I recently celebrated my fourth wedding anniversary with my lovely wife. (Of course, there are times when this news also, likely, breaks the heart of my lovely wife — especially when I say, do and think very silly things.)

This anniversary got me thinking about all of the ways one is supposed to spend one’s anniversary, all the things you are not supposed to do on your anniversary and all the things that you are not supposed to talk about on your anniversary.

I am going to focus on the first of the three. All you thinking I would focus on the last, sorry to disappoint you, and we will see you next week.

When you get married, your social life changes dramatically. For those of you in a long-term relationship without marriage who are saying, “We are practically married and we know about all those changes,” well, you are ignorant, and to you I humbly say, “Shut it.”

See, while in a relationship without marriage, each of you is still trying to show the other that you are hip, cool and “down with it.” You are willing to watch football with your lover because you think it will make you more endearing to him/her. You are willing to shop for hours on end with the lady (or fellow) in your life because you want to show you share his/her interests.

And you are willing to go out on the town to whatever they find fun and exciting, because you don’t want to be a wet blanket.

Then the wedding rings go on, and things start to change.

You start to curse those “lovely” shopping trips. You begin wondering why in the world anyone would want to watch grown men beating the crap out of each other. And you certainly don’t want to spend any more time than you have to hanging out in bars and watching the mating dance of the North American Barfly.

So, it’s important to make the most out of your entertainment options and to create something more than just dinner and a movie and home for talk about how good/bad the movie was and how good/bad the dinner was.

That’s boring, and you don’t want to be boring.

Enter, the trip — and, after umpteen paragraphs, the point of this column.

The trip is the most important weapon in your wedded-bliss arsenal. The trip is what will save you when nothing else seems to work. The trip is what you should be planning for all the time. Whether you are going to Charleston or California, always be ready for “the trip.”

See, even though we recently went to Hawaii, I had in my head that we would hit Charleston for a weekend around June. Sure, gas prices are high, but so is the value on marital harmony.

The point being, always be ready for “the trip.” Save that change and put aside a couple hundred dollars to go to a hotel, get away from the house, the dog and, if you have them, the kids. Your spouse will be better for it. You will be better for it. And, the gods know, it might be the only thing that gets you to that next anniversary.

Even if you aren’t married yet.