Making Marriage Happy: Hard-Won Wisdom from Real Couples

In our culture marriage takes a beating with more negative profiles than positive. But Claire Vande Polder teases out heartwarming stories that illustrate how real couples navigate year in and year out living together as one. Its not about fairy tales but what it takes to build a foundation of friendship that helps endure the ups and downs of married life. --Michelle Singletary The Washington Post and Nationally Syndicated Personal Finance ColumnistMaking Marriage Happy is a creative compilation of wonderful anecdotes and practical ideas on how to keep that long-term love affair we call marriage alive and well.--Kristine Carlson Co-author Dont Sweat the Small Stuff book seriesClaire Vande Polders book is a triumph. She offers a couples roadmap to happiness imbued with the magic of humor warmth and companionable sensitivity. Want to be a happy couple? Making Marriage Happy is just what this doctor ordered for singles and couples happy or not. --Margarita Gurri PhD CSP aka Dr. Red Shoe Psychologist Speaker AuthorWhat I found most endearing about this book as a Christian faith leader is that humor is in fact the great equalizer. We all take ourselves too seriously but stories like the ones in this book help humble us teach us patience and allow us to laugh through the challenges. Truth-telling at this level is what we need more of! It says to those trying to pursue a loving and healthy marriage that there is always hope and that it isnt a competition.- Rev. Rachel DeLaune United Methodist Pastor...an insiders guide to the learned and earned wisdom of couples who have figured out how to make it work.-Roseann Pascale Licensed Marriage and Family TherapistWhy are some couples happy when so many others are not? Is it just the luck of the draw? Or do happy couples actually do things that make their happiness possible?In this lively encouraging and occasionally irreverent book author Claire Vande Polder interviewed real couples in happy marriages to learn what they do to make it work. What she discovered is collected here in short readable segments on topics from romance to roommate issues like housekeeping and chores conflict money life changes gift giving when to seek professional help and more. The individuals in the interview group represent 1000 years of married life-in which theyve acquired 1000 years of wisdom. And since the identities of those interviewed were kept anonymous they felt free to dish on intimate truths through confessions advice and stories that readers will find both entertaining and inspirational.Whether youre newly engaged in a long-term relationship or celebrating decades of wedded bliss theres something here for everyone. Making Marriage Happy is a collection of hard-won wisdom from real people a fresh and often-funny take on the joys and challenges of being in it for the long haul.