Marriage Encounter and TEC

When Bob and I were young and we had a lot of energy even though we worked hard on the farm, we were also very active in our local Catholic Church. I started a Youth Group and worked with the teens. They were a good group and we had them out to our farm from time to time on hay rides and parties too.

What brought this to mind is I am shredding lots of paper stuff right now - bills, old letters, etc, and I came across the spiral booklets that Bob and I wrote in when we made a Marriage Encounter and I found my spiral booklet that I kept for TEC and I was a leader. Marriage Encounter is something for a marriage that is good but the purpose of TEC is to make the marriage better. And, it did for us. I didn't read through all the old pages except for one and it was Bob's writing. I mentioned what he wrote to him and we had to laugh. It is difficult working long hard hours, raising a family and meeting all your responsibilities then have something left at the end of the day to keep the sparks alive when you go to bed with your spouse at night.

There is something very reassuring being married as long as we have, it is a comfort level. It's a pleasure for me whe Bob is around, sometimes, the feeling is similar but better than when we were young. We don't do as much amorous stuff like we did when we were younger for a couple of reasons - there are still people living with us (I can't wait until we will have a home and be alone!!) and too, age does things to the physical side of one of the spouses - I won't get too personal. But, what we do do when we do it we have more fun and we appreciate everything we do together because we love each other so much and we appreciate what we have together. We hold hands all the time and it is sensuous. It is also security. It you are young (or old!) and eligible to do a Marriage Encounter if they have it in your area Catholic Church or other Christian Church, try to do it - it is a wonderful experience. Really, it will help make your communication better.

TEC was Teens Encounter Christ and I don't know if this is still an active organization. Our's was in Kentucky. It is basically for high schoolers and I can't remember the ages. It was an awakening for the teens and brought them closer to Christ. It was a wonderful experience for me too. One of the TECs I worked on my son Brian attended and I felt so privilege to be there with him. Brian was a good person and had a deep commitment to God and his family.

It is a beautiful day here. I am doing laundry and shredding stuff - - and I get to listen to my music at the level I enjoy because I am back in the corner of the house where I am alone and it is such a nice day I can have both windows open and enjoy the birds and hummingbirds too.

I hope you are enjoying your day and God has blessed you with many gifts today. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, but I hope we can go to the cemetery tonight to visit Brian. He is buried at the Boulder City Veteran's Cemetery in Boulder City. They will have a big memorial service tomorrow, but I am a "chicken" - I get too upset even after all these years and would rather grieve in private.

Take care.