A crucial decision
Couples describe how they came to the decision to attend a Retrouvaille programme. Some were unwilling and had to be persuaded by a spouse or a friend, others felt they had nothing to lose. Some were already separated.
We survived!
Gary and Debbie thought their marriage was made in heaven, and protected it by avoiding sharing negative feelings. After 10 years together, without either of them realising it, slowly but surely a great distance had grown between them.
Distance & resentment
Joe & Mary Murphy had been married for 20 years but at least 10 of those had been what Joe describes as ‘a silent hell’. They were full of resentment towards each other. ‘Everything was empty & joyless. We had built a wall between us.’
Finding hope
Tracey, at 33 years old, would never have admitted that she was in a troubled marriage. She knew deep inside that she did not want to live the rest of her life going back and forth from arguing to the silent treatment.
What children say
Three teenagers describe how it felt to live in homes with unhappy parents, and how things turned around, long term, after their parents attended the Retrouvaille programme, renewing all their hopes.
Infidelity
Looking back on 47 years of marriage, Helen could see that six children, bereavement, two jobs, separate interests and different agendas all posed challenges to their relationship. Her husband had two affairs.
Separate, busy lives
Maria and Paul went out together for eight years and lived with each other for three of them so that by the time they got married in 1991 they felt they knew each other. “We did, but not quite as well as we thought,” says Paul.
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