SOUL MATING

We’re back from the California portion of the sabbatical and want to share our experiences with you. It’s too much for just one entry so check back over the next few days to learn all about it.

We flew out of Pittsburgh on Sunday morning, July 1st, and spent that evening through noon Friday, July 6th, with Walt and Francoise Becker at The Cottage, a marriage retreat center on Coronado Island. Walt and Fran specialize in helping clergy couples repair troubled marriages and enrich healthy ones. They mostly deal with couples in crisis. 

Our overall goal for the week was to enrich our marriage by looking at ways to stay vitally connected.  Frankly, through our veneer of confidence we were somewhat apprehensive about the whole thing.  Spending an hour with a marriage counselor can be scary; spending a week could be terrifying. Our fears were allayed as we found the Beckers to be loving and welcoming friends and companions on the journey. Their home is an oasis of calm. We enjoyed their company and that of their two dogs, Wylie and Lolo.

Each morning we began with prayer and reflection on a psalm, a foundation for searching inward in self-reflection and outward toward each other.

We considered a variety of “marriage challenges” – finances, leisure time, enhancing relationships with our families, sexuality, emotional well-being, playfulness, personality differences, spirituality, values and beliefs, and much more. Although we teach and counsel those who are married and those preparing for marriage, it was wonderful to have this time to reflect on our own relationship. The Beckers were always on target in their direction and encouragement.  We felt very cared for and affirmed during our time with Fran and Walt.

Here is our pic at the Coronado 4^th of July parade.  We took that day off to enjoy all the Independence Day celebrations.  We’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.