I wish for you many beautiful babies.

I wish for you ever stronger collaborations, team work
and partnerships.

I wish for you long conversations - and short fights - which
inexorably and successfully move the whole mass forward.

I wish for you that you always laugh at each other’s jokes and
understand each other’s prose.

I wish for you good health in each other’s arms.

I wish for you fidelity — especially in trying times. It’s the crucial
link that holds it all together.

I wish for you romantic marriage vacations — time away for just
the two of you. During which I promise to babysit all those beautiful babies.

And I wish for you, finally, the full joy of reaching the end together - that
bittersweet moment when in death you shall part.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland asked a simple question
of 10,000 married men with no history of chest pains (angina): “Does your wife
show you her love?” Those men answering yes were found to experience significantly
less angina in the next five years than husbands responding no - despite such negative
indicators as elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or electrocardiogram abnormalities.

There’s plenty of evidence that both human sexuality and intimacy and love and marriage
are very, very good for our health,” Dr. Stephen Bogdewic, vice chair of family medicine at
Indiana University School of Medicine told Indianapolis Star reporter Shari Rudavsky.
“If a new drug had the same impact, virtually every doctor in the country would be
recommending it.

Researchers found men and women in unhappy marriages suffered from increased
stress levels throughout the day at home and at work as well as higher blood pressure
at midday at the office, which could raise the risk of heart attack or stroke.

Diane,

I have done a number of weddings over the past 25 years and have included vows not only for the couple, but for the parents of the couple. In my premarital counseling I usually meet and talk with parents and stress their important role instrengthening their children’s marriage. In my remarks during the wedding Isay that this is marriage is not just a union of two individuals, but of twofamilies and stress the importance of the merging of the two family groupstogether to help provide part of the “glue” for this new marriage.

Then,after the couple recites their vows, I turn to the bride’s parents and say,”Will you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, take Bob to be your son-in-law, will you lovehim, care for him, treat him as your own son, and do all you can tostrengthen and encourage his marriage to your daughter? (They answer “Ido.”) “Will you, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, take Jennie to be yourdaughter-in-law, will you love her, care for her, treat her as your owndaughter, and do all you can to strengthen and encourage her marriage toyour son?”(They answer “I do.”)Bill Beahm, Ph.D.