It’s been a year today since we launched our book, and things are going well. We have not expected some of the challenges and rewards that have come from giving it all up and becoming entrepreneurs and newlyweds at the same time. What we have done is stayed in our game and remained focused on what it is we are here to do….

Do you ever ask yourself, “Why am I doing this or why am I here?”… I don’t always know the answer, but I always realign myself, and remember that I am here to keep waving the flag of hope for people in relationships. Ever reminding people that relationships can work; that we need to learn how to be in them.

Falling in love is one thing, staying in love is another. We learn how to drive a car, sing in tune and cook a meal, why do we continue to believe that ‘love’ takes care of itself. Over this past year, our learning curve has been enormous, and both Shawn and I are amazed with the lack of education out there on marriage and relationships.

We want to do something about that. But what?? I started looking around to see what others are doing and discovered that:

In the US, the federal government is dedicating 150 million dollars a year to support and sustain marriages and promote fatherhood. Why? One of the reasons is:

In the states, the 1.2 million annual divorces cost taxpayers an estimated $30 billion in federal and state expenditures. Each divorce costs society about $25,000.00 to $30,000.00 because of the increase in costs of supporting people with housing, food stamps, bankruptcies, problems with youth, and other related expenses.

I read last week that in Canada half a billion dollars a year is spent in cancer research. Of that half a billion dollars, 2% is spent on prevention. It has also been proven that cancer can be prevented… So why are we spending so much money on looking for a cure when we could be educating and preventing this life threatening disease? Same question can be asked of marriage education.

Let’s teach people how to be in a relationship. Relationship skills are just that: skills. Learned skills. Where are we currently getting our education? School? Home? TV? With the divorce rate at over 50% I don’t know how much learning people are getting anywhere.

Research has identified what is different about couples whose marriages work. We all start out pretty much in love and committed - we really do care and have the best of intentions to keep our vows. But there are behaviors that are highly predictive of marital failure, and others that are highly predictive of marital success. If we don’t have a clue and are doing it wrong, we kill off the love and commitment we rode in on.

Additional research demonstrates that these behaviors - or skills - can be taught to couples of all stripes and at any stage of relationship - dating, engaged, cohabiting, newlywed, long-married, and/or deeply troubled - in inexpensive marriage education classes. This is not therapy or counseling - think “driver’s education” for marriage. Think affordable and widely accessible.

In addition to the skills, we need information about what to expect in marriage - to understand and be ready for the challenge points along the way for all good marriages. We also need to clearly understand the benefits of marriage - and our reduced odds for ourselves and our kids if we divorce and remarry. We need public information campaigns to help us get smart and skillful about marriage so we have a choice. We can’t choose to have a successful marriage if we don’t know how. This is not about force - it’s about choice.

One thing we don't do a whole lot of is promote others' work and workshops. We are particular about who we promote because, if we haven't attended ourselves, or have great knowledge on the subject, who the heck are we... But we do make exceptions from time to time, and one of them is a program by a very successful lady in Victoria, Andria Wingerter, who owns a smokin' little company called, "Is It Bliss?!" This gal has got her mojo going, and she is presenting a 5 week program called, "Manifesting Magic." Click Here to check it out, and it starts this Saturday in Victoria, BC.