May 6, 2025 • 18 mins
We celebrate a double milestone as my son gets married on our 23rd wedding anniversary. This emotional weekend brings together two generations of love stories while I reflect on what makes a marriage work for over two decades.
• Cooking for 125 wedding guests from a small Airbnb with crockpots scattered throughout every room
• The importance of morning walks for communication and connection in marriage
• Jewish wedding traditions including the chuppah and breaking glass to symbolize the couple's new journey
• The significance of being intentional about building a good relationship with my new daughter-in-law
• How apologizing quickly and choosing each other daily strengthens marriage over decades
• The value of community support and having a "village" to celebrate important life transitions
Get on the waiting list for my upcoming book "Bad Marriage Advice" at www.badmarriageadvice.com and receive a free gift of 300+ date night ideas for every season, budget, and interest.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Secrets of Happily Ever
After podcast.
I'm your host, monica Tanner,and I have just had one of the
most emotional, exciting,awesome, wonderful weekends of
my life.
In this shorter episode, I amgoing to give you the rundown of
(00:20):
lessons that I've learned in 23years of marriage, because we
celebrated our 23rd weddinganniversary just this past
weekend, but also give you therundown on my son's wedding,
because he actually got marriedon our anniversary.
(00:40):
It was so wonderful to be apart of it.
So I'll just start off with thejoy that it was to be there
when my son got married to hisbeautiful bride.
We drove down.
They had the wedding about sixhours south of where we live, so
(01:01):
our family drove down the daybefore the wedding and I was in
charge of the luncheon.
So the week leading up to thewedding I made lots of lists
because I knew I had to feedabout 125 people.
We found an Airbnb that wasclose by the reception site so
(01:23):
that I could be cooking, andlots of my friends asked why I
didn't cater it, and the reasonwhy is because it saved my son
and his wife about $2,000.
So I was willing to do it.
I'm used to cooking for a lotof people.
That was the first time I'veever cooked for over a hundred
people on my own, but we figuredit out and actually the food
(01:45):
turned out great.
So that week leading up to thewedding I was thinking a lot
about food logistics as well aswhat I would say to kind of kick
off the luncheon portionbecause they wanted to do
speeches from anyone.
(02:06):
They wanted to have an open mic, so they wanted anyone to be
able to speak.
So it was such a great honor tobe able to kick that off and
I'll tell you a little bit ofwhat I said in my speech.
But we drove down on Friday andwe dropped my kids off at his
fiance's family's house, becausethey have a lot of kids that
(02:27):
are the same age and then myhusband and I went to Costco and
got all the food that we neededto prepare and then went back
to our Airbnb and startedcooking.
And then that evening we wentto help set up the reception and
then my sister-in-law came overand we stayed up fairly late to
get all of the food prepped forthe next day.
(02:49):
Then we woke up on Saturday,the day of the wedding.
It was so cool.
My son spent the night with usin our Airbnb his last night
being single, and it was so fun.
But I woke up really early toget the meat started in the
crockpots.
And it was so funny because Ihad five crockpots in this
little Airbnb and so there wasone in the kitchen, one in the
(03:12):
living room, one in our bedroom,one in the bathroom and one in
the garage so that I didn'toverburden the electrical system
.
So we had crockpots going allover the house and I woke up
super early on Saturday morningto put all the meat in all the
crockpots and then my husbandand I went for a walk.
So that was kind of all that wedid, just the two of us, to
(03:36):
celebrate our 23rd weddinganniversary.
We actually went to on a walkto the store to get.
My son was having a little bitof stomach issues so we got him
some medicine and I thought thatwas so fun because I remember
early in our marriage not thatit was fun that his stomach was
hurting, but I remember early inour marriage my husband had the
(03:56):
same problems.
He would get tummy aches oftenand I felt like that was stress
over, you know, having tosupport a family and being newly
married and wanting to bereally good at being a husband,
which he absolutely was.
But he would get stomach achesoften, and so it was really
interesting that my son woke upon his wedding day with some
(04:19):
pretty substantial stomachissues.
So we took a little one milewalk down the road to the
nearest store and we grabbedsome medicine and a few other
things that we needed at thestore and walked back, and that
was so typical of my husband andI.
We love walking, and while wecould have easily driven the car
(04:41):
to the store, that was kind ofthe way that we celebrated our
wedding anniversary with amorning workout slash walk that
we have always, over 23 years,really enjoyed doing together.
So it was cool to just walk.
You know, we walked hand inhand on the way to the store and
then, obviously, on the wayback from the store we had bags
(05:02):
in our hands, but we did enjoyspending that time together,
kind of reminiscing on the last23 years, which is so important.
I'll just kind of insert herethat taking walks together,
reminiscing, forecasting anddreaming and having difficult
conversations, is such aworthwhile use of time, so I
(05:23):
cannot recommend enough walkingtogether with your spouse,
because it is so much easier tohave those types of difficult or
uncomfortable or fun,imaginative conversations when
you're not staring in eachother's eyes, when you're
walking together in the samedirection.
It's always easier to be ableto communicate well and think
(05:48):
clearly when you're outside inthe fresh air, walking together.
So love, love, love walkingCannot recommend it enough.
We got back to the Airbnb, Ishowered and got ready.
My husband and my son left alittle bit early and then I left
with the rest of my kids and itwas super sweet because I got
all ready and my girls were likemom, your hair doesn't look
(06:08):
very good.
And I was like, well, it's notmy day, it's not a big deal.
And my daughter, who is 18, waslike mom, you're going to be in
a lot of pictures today, let medo your hair.
And I was like, okay.
So, even though I was kind offlying around preparing some
food, my daughter curled my hairand I thought that was very
sweet because I've spent many,many, many years doing her hair
(06:29):
and I thought it was very sweetthat she took some time and some
care and she did my hair forthe wedding.
Then we drove to theTaylorsville LDS temple where my
son and his wife were sealed.
We had so many family andfriends there.
It was so sweet and so tender.
The room was full and it was abeautiful ceremony and then,
(06:52):
after we came out of the temple,there was even more friends and
family there.
We took pictures.
The tulips around the templewere so incredibly gorgeous and
I really just loved taking thosepictures with our family.
And then me and mysister-in-laws and my husband
rushed back to the Airbnb to getall the food prepped and took
(07:14):
it back to where we were doinghosting the luncheon, and
everybody was super helpful.
I was handing out jobs forpeople.
I had people going to get meice and extra tablecloths and
just certain things that I hadforgotten, so people were
awesome about helping and justrunning errands and doing all
the things that needed to bedone.
We ended up having almost theperfect amount of food.
(07:37):
For those of you who arewondering, I served pork sliders
, pasta salad, caesar salad andwatermelon.
So that was the menu for about125 people, I would say, at the
luncheon.
So once we got to the locationfor the luncheon and the
reception, what was reallyreally cool is that my son and
(08:01):
his wife had a ring ceremony andmy husband actually officiated
the ring ceremony, which wassuper special because we talked
about some Jewish traditions,which is from my heritage.
So the couple got marriedunderneath a chuppah, which has
really cool significance in theJewish tradition.
(08:24):
It is an archway that is openon four sides and has a fabric
covering, and the symbolism ofthis is the openness on four
sides represents the couple'snew home that they're going to
create together, and having itopen is that it is inviting and
(08:45):
generous and people are alwayswelcome into their home.
And the covering over toprepresents God and his covering
the marriage.
And then the posts.
All four posts arerepresentative of the support
for the new couple and it was socool because we were surrounded
(09:05):
by a hundred plus family andfriends, people that have been
super significant in thecouple's life, and so it was so
cool to see that symbolism andthen look over the crowd.
My husband did such anincredible job talking about the
Jewish symbols, even thoughhe's not Jewish, but he did some
research and he also pepperedin some really cool memories of
(09:30):
my son and some advice, whichwas really cool to hear my
husband give advice publicly,because that's my gig I give the
marriage advice and I've neverheard my husband do so publicly,
but he did and he talked aboutthe importance of apologizing
and how that can be verydifficult sometimes but so
important in a marriage, and hetold a really cool story about a
(09:53):
time when he was really upsetwith my son when he was very
little, and my son went and gavehim a hug and said I'm so sorry
, dad, and it was just a reallycool moment and I loved that my
husband got to share that withour closest family and friends.
And then at the end they brokethe glass, which is very
significant in Jewish tradition,symbolizing that you know, once
(10:16):
the glass is broken, it cannotbe put back together and so,
just like it changed forms, nowthat the couple is married, they
will never be able to go backto how they were before.
It symbolizes joy, but also thebrokenness of the world and how
important it is to rememberkindness and love.
So they broke the glass andthen we all shouted mazel tov,
(10:40):
which is congratulations, goodluck and hooray all wrapped into
one, and it was short and sweetand super cool, and so I love
that my husband was able to dothat.
Then we served lunch.
It was the perfect amount.
It worked out perfectly.
Lots of people jumped in tohelp, and so I was so grateful
for all of that.
And then, after we ate, I stoodup and had the opportunity to
(11:02):
open up kind of an open micsession where everybody got to
talk about the bride and thegroom and how they felt about
them.
It was so fun for me to go.
First I kind of shared mythoughts, obviously about how
important living happily everafter is, how possible it is,
but that it requires work andthat you have to be intentional
(11:23):
to make that a reality.
And then I talked about myfeelings about being a
mother-in-law and how you knowthat relationship is so
important to me and I I justtold my daughter-in-law some
things that she should knowabout me, like that I wear my
emotions on my sleeve, that Iwill make mistakes, and how
important it is for her to justcome talk to me and we will work
(11:43):
it through because ourrelationship is so important to
me.
And then I told her that Iwould love her with my whole
heart.
I also told them about the bookthat I wrote for them that
wasn't ready quite yet but it isso close, and that they would
get the first copy of badmarriage advice, which is
basically just a long loveletter and lots of advice from
(12:06):
me combating the bad advice thatthey will get out in the world,
and so I'm so excited for that.
It was a blast to write and Isure hope it will be helpful not
only to them but also to allthe couples that hopefully will
get the opportunity to get acopy of that book so Bad
Marriage Advice.
(12:27):
It comes out in August.
Hopefully I'll have a copy ofthe book for my son and his wife
before that.
And then we went on to hear lotsand lots of really cool stories
and experiences from people whohave been close to my son and
(12:47):
his bride throughout their lives.
So it was really cool to hearfun stories about both of them
from the people who love them.
And then we started thereception, which was so fun.
We did a line for a littlewhile and there were so many
people that came to congratulateand love on the bride and groom
.
And then we opened it up fordancing, which was so cool
(13:08):
because my son married aballroom dancer.
She is on the ballroom danceteam at BYU and part of the line
was the whole group of ballroom.
The whole ballroom dance teamfrom BYU came in and they were
so fun.
And so my son well, my, my son'swife and he choreographed their
(13:30):
first dance together.
And then my daughter-in-law andher dad had a really fun
choreographed dance and if youfollow me on social media you
can see I will post clips ofthose.
They were so fun.
And then at some point duringthe dancing they cleared the
dance floor and my daughter inlaw did this flash mob with her
(13:51):
and all of her dance friends andit was so cute.
It was like this hip hop dance.
My son was sitting in a chairat the edge of the dance floor
and they all came out fromdifferent directions in purple
tearaway sweats and they didthis really cute dance and tore
off their sweatpants and werewearing sparkly leggings and it
just was so cute and my son'sface was unforgettable.
(14:15):
And so we had a night of dancingand then we sent the couple off
and it was just so special.
So really that was it.
And so we had a night ofdancing and then we sent the
couple off and it was just sospecial.
So really, that was it.
That was the day of me and myhusband's anniversary.
That's how we celebrated wasgetting to see my son, mary, the
most beautiful girl in theworld, and see him so happy with
(14:36):
her, and I just couldn't thinkof a better way to spend our
23rd wedding anniversary.
And when we went to bed thatnight we gave kind of a nux and
we're like we did it, it's done,they're married so cool.
Just a really, really, reallyall around great experience.
So what I would say I learnedfrom that is to A be grateful.
(15:00):
I am so grateful for all of myfamily and friends that showed
up in all of the necessarymoments, that were willing to
help me find crockpots and helpme plan the menu and run errands
at the last minute, who offeredto help, who supported the
(15:20):
couple, who gave them greatgifts, who were a part of their
special day.
It just it takes a village andI am so grateful for our village
, the people that have loved onmy son, for the decisions that
both my son and his bride havemade leading up to this
(15:40):
momentous occasion.
I know that they both have beenpreparing their entire lives
for such an incredible start totheir happily ever after love
story and I would just say that,like my husband said in the
ceremony, how important it is toapologize and how important it
(16:00):
is to choose each other each andevery day, and I would say, for
23 wonderful years not all easy, definitely a lot of work
required to get to year 23, butto keep choosing each other, to
keep communicating, to keeptalking about the hard things
and just to keep the faith, keepchoosing.
(16:23):
And really all I have to say is,if you're struggling, if you're
at a crossroads in yourmarriage, if you are having a
hard time, one, you're not aloneand two, there is help and
support.
It is so rewarding to be ableto walk with couples through
their difficult struggles, andmost of the couples who come to
(16:46):
work with me struggle withcommunication in some form, and
there are skillful ways tocommunicate, to talk about the
hard things.
I always say that it's soimportant to let the bad thing
happen, meaning be willing torisk the relationship.
Don't sweep it under the rug,don't let things go and then
resent them.
(17:06):
It's so important to be able totalk about how you feel about
things, to work through thingstogether, to lay it out on the
table, look at it and then beable to talk about it and get
through it.
So I leave you just with somuch gratitude and so much joy,
and I want that for you as well.
(17:28):
So I did create a free gift foryou.
So my website,badmarriageadvicecom, is now
ready.
You can go to bad marriageadvicecom and sign up on the
waiting list so you'll be thefirst to know when my book
launches.
And when you do that you willget a copy of 300 date night
(17:52):
ideas.
Because if you're feeling likeyou've lost the spark or you're
just kind of in a lull in yourrelationship, my best advice for
you is to start dating eachother, and sometimes it's hard
to come up with ideas pastdinner and a movie or something
like that.
So I came up with 300 plus datenight ideas for every season,
(18:15):
for every price point, for everyinterest that you might have.
So you'll want to go towwwbadmarriageadvicecom, get on
that waiting list to get thebook and download 300 date night
ideas.
So we'll be back next week,same time, same place, and until
(18:35):
then, don't fall for any badmarriage advice.
Bye for now.
Hello and welcome to the Secrets of Happily Ever
After podcast.
I'm your host, monica Tanner,and I have just had one of the
most emotional, exciting,awesome, wonderful weekends of
my life.
In this shorter episode, I amgoing to give you the rundown of
(00:20):
lessons that I've learned in 23years of marriage, because we
celebrated our 23rd weddinganniversary just this past
weekend, but also give you therundown on my son's wedding,
because he actually got marriedon our anniversary.
(00:40):
It was so wonderful to be apart of it.
So I'll just start off with thejoy that it was to be there
when my son got married to hisbeautiful bride.
We drove down.
They had the wedding about sixhours south of where we live, so
(01:01):
our family drove down the daybefore the wedding and I was in
charge of the luncheon.
So the week leading up to thewedding I made lots of lists
because I knew I had to feedabout 125 people.
We found an Airbnb that wasclose by the reception site so
(01:23):
that I could be cooking, andlots of my friends asked why I
didn't cater it, and the reasonwhy is because it saved my son
and his wife about $2,000.
So I was willing to do it.
I'm used to cooking for a lotof people.
That was the first time I'veever cooked for over a hundred
people on my own, but we figuredit out and actually the food
(01:45):
turned out great.
So that week leading up to thewedding I was thinking a lot
about food logistics as well aswhat I would say to kind of kick
off the luncheon portionbecause they wanted to do
speeches from anyone.
(02:06):
They wanted to have an open mic, so they wanted anyone to be
able to speak.
So it was such a great honor tobe able to kick that off and
I'll tell you a little bit ofwhat I said in my speech.
But we drove down on Friday andwe dropped my kids off at his
fiance's family's house, becausethey have a lot of kids that
(02:27):
are the same age and then myhusband and I went to Costco and
got all the food that we neededto prepare and then went back
to our Airbnb and startedcooking.
And then that evening we wentto help set up the reception and
then my sister-in-law came overand we stayed up fairly late to
get all of the food prepped forthe next day.
(02:49):
Then we woke up on Saturday,the day of the wedding.
It was so cool.
My son spent the night with usin our Airbnb his last night
being single, and it was so fun.
But I woke up really early toget the meat started in the
crockpots.
And it was so funny because Ihad five crockpots in this
little Airbnb and so there wasone in the kitchen, one in the
(03:12):
living room, one in our bedroom,one in the bathroom and one in
the garage so that I didn'toverburden the electrical system
.
So we had crockpots going allover the house and I woke up
super early on Saturday morningto put all the meat in all the
crockpots and then my husbandand I went for a walk.
So that was kind of all that wedid, just the two of us, to
(03:36):
celebrate our 23rd weddinganniversary.
We actually went to on a walkto the store to get.
My son was having a little bitof stomach issues so we got him
some medicine and I thought thatwas so fun because I remember
early in our marriage not thatit was fun that his stomach was
hurting, but I remember early inour marriage my husband had the
(03:56):
same problems.
He would get tummy aches oftenand I felt like that was stress
over, you know, having tosupport a family and being newly
married and wanting to bereally good at being a husband,
which he absolutely was.
But he would get stomach achesoften, and so it was really
interesting that my son woke upon his wedding day with some
(04:19):
pretty substantial stomachissues.
So we took a little one milewalk down the road to the
nearest store and we grabbedsome medicine and a few other
things that we needed at thestore and walked back, and that
was so typical of my husband andI.
We love walking, and while wecould have easily driven the car
(04:41):
to the store, that was kind ofthe way that we celebrated our
wedding anniversary with amorning workout slash walk that
we have always, over 23 years,really enjoyed doing together.
So it was cool to just walk.
You know, we walked hand inhand on the way to the store and
then, obviously, on the wayback from the store we had bags
(05:02):
in our hands, but we did enjoyspending that time together,
kind of reminiscing on the last23 years, which is so important.
I'll just kind of insert herethat taking walks together,
reminiscing, forecasting anddreaming and having difficult
conversations, is such aworthwhile use of time, so I
(05:23):
cannot recommend enough walkingtogether with your spouse,
because it is so much easier tohave those types of difficult or
uncomfortable or fun,imaginative conversations when
you're not staring in eachother's eyes, when you're
walking together in the samedirection.
It's always easier to be ableto communicate well and think
(05:48):
clearly when you're outside inthe fresh air, walking together.
So love, love, love walkingCannot recommend it enough.
We got back to the Airbnb, Ishowered and got ready.
My husband and my son left alittle bit early and then I left
with the rest of my kids and itwas super sweet because I got
all ready and my girls were likemom, your hair doesn't look
(06:08):
very good.
And I was like, well, it's notmy day, it's not a big deal.
And my daughter, who is 18, waslike mom, you're going to be in
a lot of pictures today, let medo your hair.
And I was like, okay.
So, even though I was kind offlying around preparing some
food, my daughter curled my hairand I thought that was very
sweet because I've spent many,many, many years doing her hair
(06:29):
and I thought it was very sweetthat she took some time and some
care and she did my hair forthe wedding.
Then we drove to theTaylorsville LDS temple where my
son and his wife were sealed.
We had so many family andfriends there.
It was so sweet and so tender.
The room was full and it was abeautiful ceremony and then,
(06:52):
after we came out of the temple,there was even more friends and
family there.
We took pictures.
The tulips around the templewere so incredibly gorgeous and
I really just loved taking thosepictures with our family.
And then me and mysister-in-laws and my husband
rushed back to the Airbnb to getall the food prepped and took
(07:14):
it back to where we were doinghosting the luncheon, and
everybody was super helpful.
I was handing out jobs forpeople.
I had people going to get meice and extra tablecloths and
just certain things that I hadforgotten, so people were
awesome about helping and justrunning errands and doing all
the things that needed to bedone.
We ended up having almost theperfect amount of food.
(07:37):
For those of you who arewondering, I served pork sliders
, pasta salad, caesar salad andwatermelon.
So that was the menu for about125 people, I would say, at the
luncheon.
So once we got to the locationfor the luncheon and the
reception, what was reallyreally cool is that my son and
(08:01):
his wife had a ring ceremony andmy husband actually officiated
the ring ceremony, which wassuper special because we talked
about some Jewish traditions,which is from my heritage.
So the couple got marriedunderneath a chuppah, which has
really cool significance in theJewish tradition.
(08:24):
It is an archway that is openon four sides and has a fabric
covering, and the symbolism ofthis is the openness on four
sides represents the couple'snew home that they're going to
create together, and having itopen is that it is inviting and
(08:45):
generous and people are alwayswelcome into their home.
And the covering over toprepresents God and his covering
the marriage.
And then the posts.
All four posts arerepresentative of the support
for the new couple and it was socool because we were surrounded
(09:05):
by a hundred plus family andfriends, people that have been
super significant in thecouple's life, and so it was so
cool to see that symbolism andthen look over the crowd.
My husband did such anincredible job talking about the
Jewish symbols, even thoughhe's not Jewish, but he did some
research and he also pepperedin some really cool memories of
(09:30):
my son and some advice, whichwas really cool to hear my
husband give advice publicly,because that's my gig I give the
marriage advice and I've neverheard my husband do so publicly,
but he did and he talked aboutthe importance of apologizing
and how that can be verydifficult sometimes but so
important in a marriage, and hetold a really cool story about a
(09:53):
time when he was really upsetwith my son when he was very
little, and my son went and gavehim a hug and said I'm so sorry
, dad, and it was just a reallycool moment and I loved that my
husband got to share that withour closest family and friends.
And then at the end they brokethe glass, which is very
significant in Jewish tradition,symbolizing that you know, once
(10:16):
the glass is broken, it cannotbe put back together and so,
just like it changed forms, nowthat the couple is married, they
will never be able to go backto how they were before.
It symbolizes joy, but also thebrokenness of the world and how
important it is to rememberkindness and love.
So they broke the glass andthen we all shouted mazel tov,
(10:40):
which is congratulations, goodluck and hooray all wrapped into
one, and it was short and sweetand super cool, and so I love
that my husband was able to dothat.
Then we served lunch.
It was the perfect amount.
It worked out perfectly.
Lots of people jumped in tohelp, and so I was so grateful
for all of that.
And then, after we ate, I stoodup and had the opportunity to
(11:02):
open up kind of an open micsession where everybody got to
talk about the bride and thegroom and how they felt about
them.
It was so fun for me to go.
First I kind of shared mythoughts, obviously about how
important living happily everafter is, how possible it is,
but that it requires work andthat you have to be intentional
(11:23):
to make that a reality.
And then I talked about myfeelings about being a
mother-in-law and how you knowthat relationship is so
important to me and I I justtold my daughter-in-law some
things that she should knowabout me, like that I wear my
emotions on my sleeve, that Iwill make mistakes, and how
important it is for her to justcome talk to me and we will work
(11:43):
it through because ourrelationship is so important to
me.
And then I told her that Iwould love her with my whole
heart.
I also told them about the bookthat I wrote for them that
wasn't ready quite yet but it isso close, and that they would
get the first copy of badmarriage advice, which is
basically just a long loveletter and lots of advice from
(12:06):
me combating the bad advice thatthey will get out in the world,
and so I'm so excited for that.
It was a blast to write and Isure hope it will be helpful not
only to them but also to allthe couples that hopefully will
get the opportunity to get acopy of that book so Bad
Marriage Advice.
(12:27):
It comes out in August.
Hopefully I'll have a copy ofthe book for my son and his wife
before that.
And then we went on to hear lotsand lots of really cool stories
and experiences from people whohave been close to my son and
(12:47):
his bride throughout their lives.
So it was really cool to hearfun stories about both of them
from the people who love them.
And then we started thereception, which was so fun.
We did a line for a littlewhile and there were so many
people that came to congratulateand love on the bride and groom
.
And then we opened it up fordancing, which was so cool
(13:08):
because my son married aballroom dancer.
She is on the ballroom danceteam at BYU and part of the line
was the whole group of ballroom.
The whole ballroom dance teamfrom BYU came in and they were
so fun.
And so my son well, my, my son'swife and he choreographed their
(13:30):
first dance together.
And then my daughter-in-law andher dad had a really fun
choreographed dance and if youfollow me on social media you
can see I will post clips ofthose.
They were so fun.
And then at some point duringthe dancing they cleared the
dance floor and my daughter inlaw did this flash mob with her
(13:51):
and all of her dance friends andit was so cute.
It was like this hip hop dance.
My son was sitting in a chairat the edge of the dance floor
and they all came out fromdifferent directions in purple
tearaway sweats and they didthis really cute dance and tore
off their sweatpants and werewearing sparkly leggings and it
just was so cute and my son'sface was unforgettable.
(14:15):
And so we had a night of dancingand then we sent the couple off
and it was just so special.
So really that was it.
And so we had a night ofdancing and then we sent the
couple off and it was just sospecial.
So really, that was it.
That was the day of me and myhusband's anniversary.
That's how we celebrated wasgetting to see my son, mary, the
most beautiful girl in theworld, and see him so happy with
(14:36):
her, and I just couldn't thinkof a better way to spend our
23rd wedding anniversary.
And when we went to bed thatnight we gave kind of a nux and
we're like we did it, it's done,they're married so cool.
Just a really, really, reallyall around great experience.
So what I would say I learnedfrom that is to A be grateful.
(15:00):
I am so grateful for all of myfamily and friends that showed
up in all of the necessarymoments, that were willing to
help me find crockpots and helpme plan the menu and run errands
at the last minute, who offeredto help, who supported the
(15:20):
couple, who gave them greatgifts, who were a part of their
special day.
It just it takes a village andI am so grateful for our village
, the people that have loved onmy son, for the decisions that
both my son and his bride havemade leading up to this
(15:40):
momentous occasion.
I know that they both have beenpreparing their entire lives
for such an incredible start totheir happily ever after love
story and I would just say that,like my husband said in the
ceremony, how important it is toapologize and how important it
(16:00):
is to choose each other each andevery day, and I would say, for
23 wonderful years not all easy, definitely a lot of work
required to get to year 23, butto keep choosing each other, to
keep communicating, to keeptalking about the hard things
and just to keep the faith, keepchoosing.
(16:23):
And really all I have to say is,if you're struggling, if you're
at a crossroads in yourmarriage, if you are having a
hard time, one, you're not aloneand two, there is help and
support.
It is so rewarding to be ableto walk with couples through
their difficult struggles, andmost of the couples who come to
(16:46):
work with me struggle withcommunication in some form, and
there are skillful ways tocommunicate, to talk about the
hard things.
I always say that it's soimportant to let the bad thing
happen, meaning be willing torisk the relationship.
Don't sweep it under the rug,don't let things go and then
resent them.
(17:06):
It's so important to be able totalk about how you feel about
things, to work through thingstogether, to lay it out on the
table, look at it and then beable to talk about it and get
through it.
So I leave you just with somuch gratitude and so much joy,
and I want that for you as well.
(17:28):
So I did create a free gift foryou.
So my website,badmarriageadvicecom, is now
ready.
You can go to bad marriageadvicecom and sign up on the
waiting list so you'll be thefirst to know when my book
launches.
And when you do that you willget a copy of 300 date night
(17:52):
ideas.
Because if you're feeling likeyou've lost the spark or you're
just kind of in a lull in yourrelationship, my best advice for
you is to start dating eachother, and sometimes it's hard
to come up with ideas pastdinner and a movie or something
like that.
So I came up with 300 plus datenight ideas for every season,
(18:15):
for every price point, for everyinterest that you might have.
So you'll want to go towwwbadmarriageadvicecom, get on
that waiting list to get thebook and download 300 date night
ideas.
So we'll be back next week,same time, same place, and until
(18:35):
then, don't fall for any badmarriage advice.
Bye for now.
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