Marriage The Time of Your Life!: Building a Great Life Together

By Thomas S Klobucher

As you may have noticed, marriage is in crisis! Experts tell us that 50% or more of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Living together prior to getting married increases the likelihood of getting divorced by 40 percent. Forty-three percent of American children are being raised without their fathers.

Out of this sad situation comes a que

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nextis Press
• Release date: Jun 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9780996260961

Thomas S Klobucher

About The Author: Thomas KLobucher! Thomas S. Klobucher, aka Tom, is a future based Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker and the CEO of Thomas Interior Systems, Inc., a Chicago area office planning and furnishings firm that he founded in 1977 with the corporate vision to "Improve The Office Work Environment". As a six-time winner of the Top Twenty Best Places To Work In Illinois, the Thomas team has advised and assisted well over 25,000 organizations through-out the Chicago area and the Midwest, in improving their office work environments by helping them to create great places to work for their people. Creating a great place to work is not just about buying office furniture, it is all about TRANSFORMATION. We are in the transformation business! Helping businesses and organizations to transform their workplaces into EPIC GREAT PLACES TO WORK. Engaged workplaces where the employees are number one! We help create a priceless collaborative environment where employees are fully engaged and happy, and always put the customer first! This is transformation! This is what we do! THE GREAT WORKPLACE REVOLUTION Tom's book, The Great Workplace Revolution, takes the reader through the twelve essential strategies for creating a great place to work, and provides the tools to better understand and leverage the unique giftedness of the five distinct workplace generations that will be working together in this most exciting decade. "First of all, I have to say that I LOVE THIS BOOK. I think it should be required reading for everybody who runs a company. It is so humane and sensible. It is engaging, clearly written, and smart. www.TheGreatWorkplaceRevolution.com THE GREAT WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION The Great Workplace Transformation provides the tools businesses need to create great places to work while helping leaders understand how to accommodate the growing reality of multiple generations working side by side in the workplace. The practical, hands-on sequel to Klobucher's highly regarded 'Great Workplace Transformation' shows leaders, front-line employees, and everyone in the between how to wage "a revolution where everybody wins." The Great Workplace Transformation will help you "fast track your organization into a truly great place to work... help you hire and retain the most, creative, loyal, and growth-driven employees... and transform your workplace into a powerhouse that thrives during the most challenging and exciting multi-generational decade in history. www.TheGreatWorkplaceTransformation.com THE TAILOR'S SON Tom's Third Title is The Tailor's Son. THE TAILOR'S SON is an authentic American story on classic themes: father, son, and the healing power of belief. This book is a moving illustration of a loving look back at the perils of youth, the distance that can arise between father and son, and the potential for reconciliation and complete life direction change for the better. www.TheTailorsSon.com RETIREMENT: THE BEST IS YET TO COME! RETIREMENT: The Best is Yet To Come, provides us with "The Retirement Road-map for the time of your life." What is the secret to a successful retirement? Tom shares twenty-five BOLD STEPS to a happy, positive, fulfilled and engaged retirement. And why is this subject so important today? Staggering data on the consequences of 78 million Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) who will be entering the rolls of retirement, over the next three to six years. Research shows that most of this age group has done little or no preparation, for this life changing event! www.Retirement-TheBestIsYetToCome.com TRANSFORMATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. NEW RELEASE 2016 Discover Your Lifetime ADVANTAGE! This is a learning tool book for all generations that traces our positive Transformational Relationships from early childhood to our Senior years. It prepares us for our VERY BEST LIFE! Visit: www.TransformationalRelationships.in

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

When Two Beautiful Words Become Four Painful Ones

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to persuade my wife to marry me.

—WINSTON CHURCHILL

You know that old saying about first impressions—the one that says, You never get a second chance to make a first impression? I suppose it must be true, but I’m thankful that first impressions haven’t been a central theme in my relationship with my wife, Carol.

You see, if I must be totally honest, my first meeting with Carol was kind of embarrassing.

It was the mid-sixties, and I was just starting out in the business world after a pretty tumultuous adolescence. I was 22 years old, working two jobs and going to college in the evenings. I was firing on all cylinders in those days, regularly getting by on just four to six hours of sleep.

Despite my hectic schedule, I made time for a weekly gathering with fellow young people to connect about our lives and study the Bible together. I really didn’t have time to change into anything more casual before these meetings, so I generally showed up in my young salesman’s getup—a three-piece suit, wingtip shoes, the works! And truth be told, I sometimes stumbled through the door late.

On one memorable evening, I did just that, arriving about 15 minutes after the event had started. Everyone politely waited for me to find an empty seat, and as I plopped down into it, I noticed what I thought was a familiar face across the room. I suppose the leader of the gathering was just about to resume the discussion that I had interrupted by showing up late, but before she could do that, I flashed a friendly smile at the young lady across the room from me and gave her a hearty greeting, calling out, Hi, Gail!

Something strange happened at that moment—every single person in the room spontaneously erupted into boisterous laughter at my expense, but I wasn’t sure why. After order had been restored, a kind soul explained to me that the woman I had greeted wasn’t Gail, but Carol—a college student who was home on winter break from her school in Iowa.

Do you want to know the worst part? Gail was a girl that I had recently taken on a few dates! Well, at least now I understood everyone’s nervous laughter.

Now, in my defense, Carol and Gail actually did look quite similar, and I’ll bet the cold Chicago weather had left a layer of condensation on my glasses that clouded my vision.

In any event, it’s a testament to Carol’s graciousness that she gave me the time of day after that less-than-stellar first impression, but in retrospect, it’s no surprise. Once I got to know her, I realized that she was the loveliest, most fascinating person I had ever met! I would come to find out that she felt similarly about me.

I could hardly wait for her school breaks, when she would come home to Chicagoland and we often found ourselves tucked away in some corner of a coffee shop. The hours slipped away magically as we talked about...well, everything! There was something enchanting about being with someone so like-minded, intelligent, and kind.

We were falling in love, of course. It was like nothing either of us had ever experienced before.

After a few dates, being a somewhat bashful young man, I had a very strong desire to give Carol a goodnight kiss as I dropped her off at her home night after night, but I just could not seem to get the job done! Well, one night I just had to kiss this lovely young woman as we parted in front of her parents’ home. Now, I had been planning to say something very debonair to her before our first kiss, and I had rehearsed the words numerous times in my mind. Now, as the moment arrived, I took her hands and looked into her beautiful eyes and…a panic came over me as my prepared remarks vanished! I found myself clumsily saying something very different—I’m going to kiss you even if it kills me!

The kiss was wonderful—well worth the 50-plus years of kidding from Carol about what I said before I kissed her!

When I think of all the special moments we enjoyed together in those early days, one memory stands out above the rest. About a year after first meeting Carol, she was again home on winter break, and we had attended a concert together in Chicago. On the way back from the event, as we neared the suburb where Carol’s family lived and I exited the expressway with her by my side, I heard a voice speak to me—internally, but very distinctly. It said something that was simple, but life-changing: Tom, she’s the one for you.

From then on, I never considered dating any other women. My heart belonged to Carol! Soon enough, it became clear that the feeling—and the commitment behind it—was mutual, and we began happily making plans to get married!

TWO LITTLE WORDS

I sometimes think about all of the meaning that is packed into two of the smallest words in the English language—I do—when they’re spoken in the context of a wedding