Wedding Bells

My wife and I were asked to participate in a Marriage Preparation Course this past weekend. No it wasn't for us. We've been happily hitched for almost 30 years now. No we were asked to lead one of the sessions and share some of our marital experience with the young couples. Our topic was communication. This is the second year we've done this and it's as much an education for us as it is for the soon-to-be-weds.

Last year the group was more typical of what you'd expect to find in a marriage prep course. They were mainly younger couples while this year the group seemed to be a little older. A number of them already had children. Many had been living together for some time. We talked about how they had met and discovered that two couples first got together on the internet and one couple had that unique Canadian experience of meeting in Tim Horton's. They were open and honest and their stories were wonderful.

I don't know how much they got out of the session but I know we learned a lot. We talked about communication in marriage and how important it is. We gave them some exercises and shared some stories and they all listened intently and participated fully. In the end, as it was last year, the whole thing was a positive experience. Meeting people like this who obviously love each other and care enough about what they're about to begin to come to a course like this, gives one much optimism about the future.