Trying Marriage Again
My counselor sent me this article today and it was so true of stepfamily life that I had to share it. The article is called Trying Marriage Again and was published on the Cincinniti.com Web site.
When she wants to demonstrate the pressures couples face in a second marriage, stepfamily expert Elizabeth Einstein gets out the ropes. She asks a couple at one of her workshops to tie themselves together, signifying the bonds of remarriage. Then she gets volunteers from the audience, representing children and ex-spouses from the first marriage, to tie themselves to the couple.
Einstein loads down the couple with luggage, each piece labeled with issues common in remarriage, such as anger, guilt, unrealistic expectations and fear of another divorce. Then she blindfolds the couple, signifying denial. Finally, with the couple being pulled every which way, Einstein instructs them to get close and be intimate.
Darn near impossible. And that’s the point.
I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it in this light, but it’s so very true! Your marriage has tons of baggage and oh so many extra people when you marry into a stepfamily. The trick is to figure out how to unload the extra baggage since, obviously, there’s no way to unload the extra people. The article also tells a couple of stories about sucessful stepfamiles and provides a list of Tips for Stepfamily Success.
July 27th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
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