There were fewer high profile celebrity divorces in 2015, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of couples who were celebrating together a year ago who won’t be in each other's arms or watching Anderson Cooper, Kathy Griffin or Donald Trump ring in the new year tonight.
Read more Fewer celebrity break-ups, but still challenges for America’s marriages
Can couples in a marriage and relationship skills training retreat learn to keep that loving feeling alive? Will those who lost each other years ago be able to rekindle what they once had?
Mike and Barb were no longer that young couple in love. They were in a weekend retreat searching for any last-ditch sign of hope for a marriage that had more years of sour than sweetness. For a moment, he remembered his sweet Baton Rouge. And there she was, sitting beside him.
“I’d like the fighting to stop,” Barbara said. “I’d like the pain to stop. I’d like to stop feeling angry, scared and sad all the time. I’d like to stop suspecting him all the time. I’d like to either know we can make things better, like it once was, or, as hard is it might be, call it quits. I can’t take this anymore. I wont,” she said as the sobs began.
Evelyn smiled, not surprised that bringing her wife to the weekend marriage retreat would raise some eyebrows. The couple hadn’t expected anything to change in their relationship after they married. But something had changed.
Read more Will marriage equality end Evelyn and Kathy’s 10-year relationship?
Entering the conference room within a few inches of each other, the gulf between the couple betrayed canyons of hostility and despair as they dragged themselves like two people who’d had their knees broken to a last chance weekend for a miserable marriage from which both seemed eager to flee.
Read more Should Mike and Barb Save Their Marriage? Will They?
Couples and families who create a habit of appreciating each other tend to be happier, healthier and enjoy more fulfilling relationships.
