My husband and I spent our eleven-year wedding anniversary differently than we had any other anniversary. We took an entire weekend to focus on our marriage, ourselves and the love that we found over a decade ago. We did this with FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember.
Stephanie received passes to FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember in exchange for this blog.
When my husband and I started dating over fourteen years ago, like many couples, we were clueless as to what was ahead of us. Eleven years of marriage and two kids later, we are finding marriage isn’t always easy. In fact, sometimes it’s really hard. FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember gave us additional tools and resources that we wouldn’t have found were it not for us taking the plunge and dedicating an entire weekend to our marriage.
What I loved about the weekend is that they got real. The speakers didn’t sugar coat married life. They were transparent about their own marital struggles. They had us laughing and crying all in one swoop. They talked about repairing a marriage after dark times, about blended families and the challenges that naturally arise. They even had an afternoon dedicated to talking about sex. I feel like there were no topics that were off the table. We were surrounded by an amazing diversity of couples, including: some engaged, some married for multiple decades, some on their second or third marriages, couples on the brink of divorce and others still in the honeymoon phase, and parents of many kids and couples desperately wanting to become parents. Regardless of what brought us each there or at what point in life we were in, FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember touched all of us.
I kept feeling like they were talking to just me when really it was something that the entire room could relate to. The weekend kicked off with a couple of hours Friday night. This is convenient because it didn’t require us to take any time off work. We got right into the material with discussions on why marriages fail. I appreciated that they dove right in and didn’t shy away from a tough topic like that.
Saturday was a full day from 8:30am until 4:30pm. There were plenty of breaks and one longer break which also included my favorite activity of the weekend. Couples were tasked to write love letters to each other and share them. My husband and I did so back in our hotel room. Tears, laughter and more tears is how I would sum that part up. I could barely read mine aloud to him because it was just so incredibly emotional. We also talked about sex during the afternoon session. Real talk. I loved this session. Ending at 4:30pm they encouraged all the couples to have a date night. I thought this was so smart since many couples never take time for that. Sunday consisted of a couples hours with the men in one room and the women in another. This was super valuable because it gave focus on the struggles that we specifically face as wives and mothers and the same with the men being husbands and fathers.
We left the weekend feeling refreshed, connected and with tools to use moving forward. It also left me knowing there are things we really need to work on as a husband and wife and as parents. Sometimes that can be uncomfortable but absolutely necessary if we want to stay married for decades to come. There are retreats happening all over the United States and over one million couples have attended and found hope with Family Life’s Weekend to Remember. Regardless of where you are in your marriage, I would encourage you to look into attending one. There is likely one not too far from your home. Sometimes we have to take the plunge, we have to be open that we need some help and acknowledge that there are resources out there for us to utilize. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have attended this or answer questions if you are looking into attending!
Plus, ENTER TO WIN a Couples’ Registration, including a 2-night hotel stay! This giveaway is for Washington residents and for the Weekend to Remember event at Hyatt Regency Lake Washington in Renton.
