Signs of the times - as names, and life, and billboards go by - 12|2|07

[Smartmarriages]

- BILL OLEWILER TITLED THIS ONE: "MY WITNESS TO MARRIAGE"
- FIELD NOTES: NAMING THE BRIDE AND GROOM
- MOTOR HOMES AND MARRIAGE
- MARRIAGE LIKE AN EGG
- BUMPERS
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- BILL OLEWILER TITLED THIS ONE: "MY WITNESS TO MARRIAGE"

> Hi, Diane!
>  
>     I haven't been to a Smart Marriages gathering in some time, but I still
> benefit from the mailing list. Thought you would like to hear this testimony
> to the power of marriage.
>  
>     I lost my wife, Mary, two Novembers ago to liver cancer. Nancy Payne (once
> of Rockford, IL and now of Jacksonville, FL) lost her HenryDear to leukemia in
> January, 2001. Nancy and I have been members of an Internet discussion group
> and cyber parish for seven years now. When I was in Florida after Mary's
> funeral, I asked if I could meet Nancy in St. Augustine for lunch and a walk
> through town, where Mary and I enjoyed our walks during our Florida visits. We
> have continued correspondence, and last May I began monthly visits to take her
> to the local dinner theater and to enjoy her company. We each have qualities
> that our lost loves had. And so:
>  
>     Ms Nancy Payne, of Jacksonville, Florida, and the Rev. William Olewiler,
> of White Hall, VA, announce their engagement. An April wedding is planned. The
> couple will live in Jacksonville beginning in July.
>  
>     Both of us agree that we will never stop loving our Mary and HenryDear,
> and this does not in the least prevent a new love from flourishing!
>  
> Bill Olewiler + O.S.L.
> Pastor, Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church
> White Hall, VA

Bill attended the very first two Smart Marriages Conferences.  I'm hoping he
and Nancy will attend another one soon _ and in meantime maybe they can join
forces with Rick Marks director of "Marriage for Life" of Jacksonville.    -
diane 

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-  FIELD NOTES: NAMING THE BRIDE AND GROOM
The New York Times 
Dec 2, 2007 

> But brides, and bridegrooms as well, are learning that with choice comes
> complication. They are turning what was once an intimate conversation into an
> interactive dialogue with relatives, friends and even professional
> consultants. . . . (name-ologists)

> When the former Katharine Newberry-Gillin, 25, a manager at a Trader Joe¹s
> food store in Osseo, Minn., was engaged last year to Kyle Sommers, also 25,
> there were many name-change options.

> ³I was coming face to face with something that I¹d always known would be a
> major issue,² she said. ³When I was in school, people always joked about what
> kids with hyphenated names would do when they got married.²
> 
> She decided to take the name-change question to the polls. At an online voting
> page she built at SurveyMonkey.com, several dozen friends and family members
> weighed in on whether she should become just Kate Sommers or Katie
> Sommerberry-Gillin. Or Katharine Elizabeth Gilnewsom.

To read the full article on just one more question faced by today's marrying
couples: 
http://tinyurl.com/2eou4b

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- MOTOR HOMES AND MARRIAGE

> Hi Diane,
> I wanted to let you know we sold our San Diego home and are now
> traveling extensively in a motorhome. Could you change our mailing address,
> please? - TAS 

That sounds like so much fun and so many in the coalition are doing this
that I expect divorce rates to go down in the RV parks.  We'll have to
deputize all of you and, for sure, ask you to sport Smart Marriages bumper
stickers.  I'm not naming names because with modern technology many of your
are RVing incognito - emailing, writing books, and maintaining your
Websites, and your marriage education missions from the road. I'll also not
name names about the reports I'm getting about how RVing is impacting
marriages. Some of you are doing this pre-retirement, not waiting for
retirement to live out this fantasy/adventure so I'm hearing from all
ages/stages.  But, as we can imagine, for those who are combing the changes
of retirement "I married you for better or worse, but not for lunch!" with
the challenges of moving into an RV, things are very interesting. As one
wife writes, "We find that living in such tight quarters magnifies
*everything* but we're having heaps of fun and increasing our marital
tolerance and skills big time!!!"
 - diane
##########################
- MARRIAGE LIKE AN EGG

> Diane:  I read with interest today's comment about marriage as an egg.   I've
> used that title to make another point about marriage, specifically about
> domestic violence: The marriage relationship is like a fresh egg.  Neither
> will ever be the same after the first smack. - Gary Ciesla

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- BUMPERS

> Hi, Diane, You have me truly curious about your bumper sticker.  It must be
> really a keeper if it is challenging people.  How do we get a few?
> We are working on the "What Can You Do For Your Marriage" campaign for the
> USCCB for the Diocese of Burlington.  Thanks, Margaret
> 
All they say is "SmartMariages.com" but that's enough to really pique
curiosity.  And, *pique* is a good term ­ while the "M" word taps curiosity,
it can also annoy.  I've had people try to scrape mine off my car! No eggs
so far or damage done, and it just confirms for me that people are noticing
them. ;)  It's definitely a neighbor but can't figure out which ones. For
HOW TO ORDER the FREE bumper stickers, see:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/bumper.html

Let me know if you want one or two -- having them on both the front and back
bumpers of my van generates twice the pique. Of course, you can order them
for your whole family...dozens if you think you can get them to join in.  -d

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