Chip Chick
This 50-year-old man says he’s been happily married to his 50-year-old wife for close to 25 years. They have two children together, who are both in college, and he’s so very proud of them.
Recently, he made the decision to retire, and he says that they can afford to have his wife follow suit, but she likes her job.
Then, a year ago, he decided to go on a solo backpacking trip, since his wife was too tied up with work to go with him.
His wife was completely supportive of him, so he ended up taking five months away to go on his trip.
“She sent me care packages, met up with me when possible, communicated via text every day, and we did video chats when I was in town,” he explained.
“I expressed my gratitude to her, and I had no idea anything was amiss. Soon after I returned home (after being away for over 5 months), her father had health issues and passed away.”
“My wife saw a therapist for her grief. A few weeks later, she communicated to me that she felt our emotional connection had diminished and wanted us to go to couples counseling.”
He replied that he wanted a chance at attempting to fix their marriage on their own, so he bought them a self-help book.
His wife was open to his idea, and they read the book and began doing the exercises in there. After some time, he genuinely believed their marriage was on the up and up.
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