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A Grain of Salt Posts

Boy meets Girl

Christmas was practically here. I was heading home from my naval duty station in Newport, Rhode Island to be with my family in Annapolis. During my Christmas Leave at home, a friend called and asked if I wouldn’t mind going out with a buddy of his stationed nearby in Washington DC. I really respected this friend. I was home for two weeks while the school command was closed for the Christmas break so it was…

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Know yourself

Today’s post is written by my friend Lisa McLean. While this month is about marriage, making friends with folks who are working to stick with it is vital. Friends make our marriages better.  Know yourself to stay married. In ICC, I learned the phrase “Know yourself to lead yourself,” which means that if you don’t know yourself and what makes you tick, you won’t be able to be in control of your feelings and actions.…

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In Sickness

My husband Gary gave me a trip to Hawaii for our tenth wedding anniversary. It just happened to last two years and included our six kids and household goods. With the kids, ages 8 years and younger with one on the way, we discovered within a year of arriving in Hawaii that I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. If you do have to have a serious illness, I can recommend to do that in Hawaii. I just…

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Margin for Mistakes

One of the volunteer roles I took when first married was as a counselor for Navy Relief. The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society provides financial counseling and assistance to Navy-Marine Corps families members in crisis by supplying them quick loans for urgent needs(as qualified), help with emergency needs like baby formula and diapers or help with emergency travel. It was a God-ordained opportunity as I saw that I lived a life with more margin and opportunity…

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Please Make It Better

I really had this vision that our 30th anniversary would be a golden glowing year for Gary and I. Then one of our children landed in the hospital. With a mental disorder. A golden 30th didn’t happen. It was a false notion to begin with.  I thought of this nifty project to interview 30 couples who had been married more than 30 years. Maybe I would hear something that would inspire and reignite me. I…

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For worse

As you would expect, the Naval Academy environment was competitive. I don’t think I really understood or appreciated how to have friends and deep relationships with people different from me without feeling the need to compare and compete. Gary was surely my training ground. When I made the promise to have and to hold when it came the “for worse” part I wasn’t thinking about “how worse” I could be, I was only thinking about…

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