All this talk about young married couples has sent me on a trip down memory lane, back to the old days when my husband was naught but a boyish husband-to-be, and I was a blushing maiden of 22. And by “maiden,” I mean I was 22. Ah, yoot!
We did go to marriage preparation classes. They were held by another couple in their comfortable home. It was a little too comfortable, as I recall: they installed me next to the fire in a rocking chair, and I damn near fell asleep every night as they droned on and on and on. Maybe I missed the good parts while I was dreaming, but I don’t think so. My husband reports pretty much the same thing as I remember.
There are, we learned, two components to a stable, successful, loving, happy, and holy marriage. Are you ready? Here they are:
1. Keep the lines of communication open.
2. Invest in gold.
Well, there you have it. Boy, were we prepared for marriage then, let me tell you!
So, that was, let’s see, 1997. To be honest, I’m a little amazed at how many people mentioned that NFP even came up in their marriage prep — last I heard, most Catholics aren’t even aware there is such a thing. I would be very interested to hear what your marriage preparation was (or is) like, and what year it was – and also what your parents’ or older siblings’ was like, if you know. Did you hear anything useful? Anything nutty? Does it seem like things getting better, overall? Or worse? Or what?
And why don’t we have more gold around here? I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t say anything about NFP — I clearly wasn’t paying attention anyway.
