Here is the last class on Strengthening Marriage. This was a good class and I'm glad we took it. The takeaway message for me was that a happy marriage is worth the effort but it does require effort. If you missed the previous posts, here are the links: Part 1 ,  Part 2 ,  Part 3 , and  Part 4 Here is what we learned in the last class: One thing Jeff said a few times during the course is that marriage is a marathon, not a sprint. Most marriages have periods of disillusionment and endurance is key because it is cyclical. He told us that he used to hate running because he thought you had to run very fast all the time so he quickly wore out. But then he started running with a friend who was pretty heavy and couldn't run fast so they ran slowly, at an aerobic pace, and that was much more enjoyable. The goal is to find the right pace and to keep going. First he did some review: We did this three-minute attunement exercise where we each took a turn complaining about someth...

 This week's class was about Team Huddles and avoiding Whoosh!  I didn't understand the huddle idea completely but maybe you'll figure it out. The first thing Jeff talked about was love languages. Then he cited his survey results (below) which are always interesting. Clearly women prefer quality time together while men prefer physical touch. Gifts were surprisingly unpopular. Jeff talked about how he liked to give poems to his girlfriends when he was a young man and he thought they were fairly well received until he gave a poem to his first wife (now deceased) who wasn't really into poetry. Then he tried other kinds of gifts like flowers which also weren't that well received. Finally she told him that if he really wanted to do something she appreciated, he would offer to put the kids to bed or he would give her a day to herself while he took care of the kids. He said it was a big turning point in their relationship when he started giving her the acts of service whic...