Hubby and I will be celebrating our 6th year wedding anniversary on November 8, and we’ve always wanted to go to a retreat for married couples. But since I’m giving birth soon, we know we cannot squeeze in a weekend to ourselves in November. So sakto, even when my belly looks like a big balloon about to burst, we decided to go for it last weekend, Friday night to Sunday afternoon.
It took place at St. Paul Scholasticate in Tagaytay, organized by Worldwide Marriage Encounter Philippines. As stated in the organization’s website, WWME is a “positive and personal experience for couples which offers a technique of loving communication. It is not a seminar, neither is it a retreat nor marriage counseling. It’s an opportunity to look deeply into each other’s relationship and with God. It’s a time to share their feelings, hopes, fears, joys, and frustrations. The personal reflection and sharing with your spouse will be in the privacy of your own room.”
I cannot share the details about the flow of the weekend here, for the benefit of those who haven’t experienced it. All I can say is that it is LIFE-CHANGING, at least for me and my husband. The talks are very simple and straightforward, the speakers were composed of one priest and real couples who were not professionally trained to speak in front of a crowd. Some might judge the presentations as boring and far from engaging, I admit I thought of that on the first night. But after each talk came the essence of the whole experience --- your time to discuss the topic with your spouse using the guide questions and guidelines the speakers gave.
For Rolly and me, each of our dialogues was very insightful. I came to understand his feelings on relevant marital issues on a much deeper level, feelings that I used to just ignore and set aside, and vice versa. I came to know my husband more, the things that he values (which I thought I already knew), his motivations, his anxieties, everything. The dialogues opened my heart to be more sensitive to his verbal and non-verbal communication cues, to be more self-aware about how my words and actions might have an impact on him and our relationship. Answering the guide questions also reminded me why I fell in love with him, his qualities that I found most special when we first met, and his attributes now that I find most endearing. I’ve fallen in love with my husband all over again, now on an even deeper level that goes beyond just kilig typical of young love.😍
I would say that attending the WWME weekend has renewed our relationship. It has brought us back to how we felt during the early days of our marriage. It has reminded us of the vows that we made to each other that we may have somehow forgotten. It has allowed us to once again experience the overflowing joy of being one another’s life partner. Para kaming kinasal ulit, and we love the feeling.
Every married couple needs a weekend like this.💖 If you are interested, please visit WWME’s website to inquire, or send them a message on their Facebook page.
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