I Married My Best Friend

I have a friend who told me that her relationship with her husband does better when they spend more time apart and that they need separate groups of people to hang out with. She sees it as more of distance from her husband makes the heart grow fonder.
After she told me this I was reflecting on my own relationship with my husband. I noticed that we do best when we spend time together. We spend a good amount of our time just hanging out with each other. We genuinely enjoy spending time together and if we are not spending time together it adds a strain to our marriage.
Now I'm not trying to say that what my friend does in her marriage is wrong but after reading and watching this weeks prep, it helps me understand my own marriage better.
Dr. Gottman describes that having a friendship in your marriage can help your marriage be strong and lasting. This got me thinking if my husband and I have a good friendship.
I know that our relationship isn't perfect and has its ups and downs, but when it is having our ups I can now recognize that some of that may have to do with the friendship we have created. We love and respect each other and treat the other how we want to be treated. We support and encourage each other.
When we are in the middle of a "down" in our marriage I notice that we are more focused on ourselves and acting in a selfish mindset. Instead of thinking about his needs and encouraging him I am thinking about myself. That is not how best friends treat each other.
Growing up, when my siblings and I would  be fighting my mom would always say, "Would you treat your best friend like that?" I think the same idea can be played into marriage.

My goofy bestfriend