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Gratitude — It’s All Around US
Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. This year our kids will all be home, from as far-away as Alaska. We love to cook and many hands in the kitchen will make for fun and feast. Our hearts are bursting with Gratitude. This is what we often refer to as the Big “G”. Gratitude is a Powerful Word
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Got G.A.M.E?
Chris: I am a golfer. I will golf anytime, any course and with almost anyone. But I am a golfer with G.A.M.E. Allow us to explain. G is for Green Jacket. In golf, the Green Jacket is awarded to the winner of the Masters. In our marriage, I think of the Green Jacket as our wedding day. While I didn’t actually wear a green jacket, I was a true winner the day Michelle said, “I do.” There are only 53 men lucky enough to wear the coveted jacket. Considering that 90-100 people compete each year over the last 83 years, there’s no wonder these jackets are so special. Similarly, when I consider that in the 3.9 billion…
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Walking Down Memory Lane
Chances are, when you met your spouse, you were already adults. As adults, we are a cumulation of the years we’ve spent living. Our spouse has most likely not known us that entire time. How intrigued are you when you hear stories of your spouse from before you met?
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Love Letters
Julie I recently rediscovered a box of love letters that my parents wrote to each other. My dad had given them to me after my mom died. My dad was drafted into the army when he and my mom were still newlyweds. There was no email, no texting, no Facetime. There was only a brief Sunday phone call and love letters Monday through Saturday. These letters were mostly about details of daily life, but they were also filled with expressions of love and longing to be together again. Their arrival was a daily reminder of their love and the commitment they had made to each other.
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30 Seconds of Passion
LARRY: When life gives you lemons (or a Covid pandemic) – make lemonade. When Covid hit, my wife Jula and I decided to turn our quarantine into a second honeymoon. We made the most of the extra time we had together by being romantic and talked about areas of our relationship that we’d actively avoided. Well …after about 6 months of this second honeymoon, life threw us a few curveballs and the proverbial ‘honeymoon wore off.’ Some months later, I had a dream where I got the idea of “30 Seconds of Passion.”
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Hibernation Is For Bears
There is so much we love about fall . . . There is so much we love about fall — the cool crisp air and vibrant colors, the sudden absence of mosquitoes and sounds of honking geese overhead. Mother Nature has given up her bounty to our enjoyment of hearty soups, stews and chilis. Fall has so much to teach us as we venture inside, to a simpler life, and return to a routine. It is a much-needed end to a crazy summer. Time to reflect and begin again.
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Co-parenting My Child
People have asked us how we work out parenting, including co-parenting a child from a previous marriage. Julie: Decisions can be harder when it’s “my family” or “your family”. When we dated, Rick said he admired my parenting skills. I was parented with little to no punishment for wrong doing or bad decisions. I expected I would raise my family the same way. This was far from what my new husband had expected.
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Letters to Joy
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In July of 2015, Michelle’s best friend, Joy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She shared the news via text and after sharing the details she said, “I love you and can’t talk about it right now. Call me later…” Michelle: My response, “This is when living 1,000 miles away becomes really inconvenient. If I were there, I would be taking you to appointments, sitting with you just because and everything in between. I’m here. I will figure out what to do.” As I hit SEND, I had an idea. Joy, I have this crazy plan. Each week, I am going to send you a package like this filled with seven days…
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Are We Broken?
When we are in the middle of a disagreement or are disconnected from one another, we may look around us and only see people doing marriage better than we do it. But no relationship is perfect and every relationship has its struggles. In all likelihood we are broken, but not any more broken than others.
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In Sickness and In Health
Julie: I’m sick. And tired. And sick and tired of being sick and tired AGAIN. I’m basically allergic to life, which causes frequent infections and debilitating migraine headaches. John knew all this when he married me, and he cheerfully vowed to love me “in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live.” I’m pretty sure he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
