Woman puts experience in couples' newsletter

"Making beautiful music together" is something most couples do quite well during the honeymoon phase of their marriage. As time goes on, however, that romantic two-part harmony may be strained by sour notes brought on by the stresses of everyday life.

Helping couples stay in tune with the positive side their relationship is the goal of a bi-monthly newsletter recently launched by Jeanne M. Caverly of Our Lady of Grace Church in Ballston Lake.

Aptly titled "Two-Part Harmony," the publication is designed to help couples interested strengthening and enhancing their marital relationships.

Personal touch

Reflected in each issue are insights Mrs. Caverly, a former teacher, gained during her involvement with "Retrouvaille," a ministry devoted to helping couples in stressed and hurting marriages.

She draws not only from her professional training as a counselor and educator, but also from vast personal experience. Her 25-year marriage to husband Jim has included its share of highs and lows -- especially during the years when the couple was struggling to balance the demands of raising three children in a two-career home. (Mr. Caverly is in law enforcement.)

"Jim and I have recognized that couples need a consistent source of encouragement," said Mrs. Caverly. "'Two-Part Harmony' provides that support very affordably."

Table of contents

Each issue of the newsletter, which debuted three months ago, contains a feature article, communication column, reflective questions for journaling, motivational quotes, challenging activities for individual and couple growth, notices of relevant programs/seminars, book and movie reviews, and a readers' forum.

The cover story in the March/April edition, for example, was headlined "And They Lived Happily Ever After?" The first-person article, penned by Mrs. Caverly, told how "on June 24, 1972, two starry-eyed young lovers said `I do,'...confident that they would live happily ever after -- with little or no effort!"

The story went on to document how the couple eventually discovered "they could be incredibly happy together AND they could make each other incredibly miserable."

Making it better

After 19 years on what she termed "an emotional roller-coaster relationship," the Caverlys decided "that their once starry-eyed, smooth-sailing schooner had become a sinking battleship," she wrote. "They now had three choices: jump into a life raft together, jump separately, or sink!"

In other words, they could get help and make their relationship work, divorce and go their separate ways, or stay together and be miserable. With 19 years and three kids already invested in what she calls "their voyage," they chose to jump in the life raft together.

In January 1992, they attended a weekend program for troubled marriages which, in retrospect, Mrs. Caverly is convinced "literally saved our marriage and dramatically improved the quality of our life together. We, the starry-eyed lovers, have found one another again, only this time, we are anchored in reality and have the skills to keep our relation 'ship' afloat!"

Staying together

And that, she insists, is what "Two-Part Harmony" is all about: providing couples with the information and inspiration they need to keep their relationships sailing -- even in rough seas.

Describing the newsletter as interdenominational in nature, Mrs. Caverly believes that "God is at the center of a healthy marriage and a healthy couple relationship. If a couple is able to share spiritually, it can certainly help to deepen their intimacy."

(To get a subscription to "Two-Part Harmony," which costs $12 for six issues, contact Jeanne Caverly, 114 Lake Road, Ballston Lake, NY 12019-1815, or call 399-1727. The e-mail address is [email protected]. Internet: http://www.albany.net/~harmony.)

(06-12-97) [[In-content Ad]]