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Lisa Hazen's avatar

What an absolutely beautiful and honest post. Few people share the reality of the work involved in a healthy marriage. Grateful for this.

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Thebenson67 (she/her/hers)'s avatar

Given how she conducts her public life, I am not at all surprised to learn that in her private life Shannon is thoughtful, self-aware, and open to change and growth. Personally, I never thought I’d get married. In the nuclear family from which I hail, we are 0/4 in marriages with my parents and three much-older siblings all divorcing after marriages ranging from merely ill-advised to just plain awful. My long-term partner’s parents’ marriage did not end in divorce but was a disaster that arguably might have yielded a better outcome if it had. The night we met 19 years ago (on the wildly successful Kerry/Edwards Campaign… not 🤦🏻‍♀️), we talked for hours about everything, including marriage, and he stated, “It’s not marriage I’m avoiding, it’s divorce,” echoing sentiments I’d been voicing for years by then. Our partnership has had ups and downs over the years, but it was after therapy, coming out of the pandemic feeling even more solid than we went in, and doing our wills together that we knew we were in it for the long haul. So, on the 20th anniversary of the day we met we’re making it legal next year. My only regret is not doing therapy sooner - I come from a family whose approach to mental health is ‘Snap out of it!’ so I had to personally de-stigmatize therapy to be able to participate. Cultivating a happy and fulfilling life partnership is a life skill and like most skills, can benefit from coaching.

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