Open Marriage

Dear Friends,

This is an exciting week: The book that inspired all these real life stories of married life, "The Mr. & Mrs. Happy Handbook," arrives in your bookstore on Tuesday, October 17! I hope you'll be in line to buy your copy, or go online wherever you buy books, or for an autographed copy visit www.happyhandbook.com!

A thousand thanks for all who buy my book — I owe you each a kiss or handshake, you make the call.

Here are today's stories, as writers complete this thought: "The secret to a happy marriage is ___"

E-mail No. 1

Hi Steve: Love your show and as soon as I can get the book, I know it will be good too. My husband and I have been married over 66 years and still going! On a trip not long ago someone asked the secret to our long marriage. I replied, "Oh I just always let him have my way."
Eileen
St. Joseph, MI

E-mail No. 2

My husband and I were married 20 years on June 14th. It sounds corny, but we really are best friends. The secret to our happy marriage is that my husband has incredible patience, and he is very appreciative of everything I ever do for him, even though he does much more for me. It doesn't matter what I make for dinner. It could be Hamburger Helper, leftovers for the second day in a row, or Sloppy Joe's and canned corn warmed in the microwave and he will thank me for making it for him every single time. He works hard all day and comes home and helps me around the house (and whatever he does, he does it better than I do). He's a wonderful husband and father who treats not only the kids and I but everyone with respect. He's a much better person than I am. I am a very, very lucky woman who thanks God every day for sending this good man to me.
Joy Parish
Mission, KS

E-mail No. 3

"The secret to our happy marriage is there's no secrets" — this is the advice I've given for all of our 30 years of marriage when asked. Since my wife and I are our best friends and closest confidants, we can't have secrets. In fact, we have never been able or willing to keep secrets from one another. This has been our greatest "secret" to a happy marriage.
I want to share with you our initial meeting because it shows how we began this practice. I meet my wife while we were both in the United States military in 1976 Cindy and I were stationed in New Mexico. She was the prettiest person in fatigues I ever have seen. One day my buddy and I were tasked to draw a bus from the motor pool and pick up soldiers to participate in a parade. We were to drive to another base after they all boarded and then return them to our base. When we arrived at Cindy's barracks to pick up the females, I received a radio message that the parade was canceled and to return to base. Being a good solider I quickly informed the soldiers of the cancellation and dismissed them. Except Cindy and her roommate instead telling them we would give them a free bus ride around base and a lunch. The next week we moved in with each other. Now Cindy was engaged at the time to another soldier and when she wanted to fly back east to see him I took her engagement ring and threw it out the window and told her you can't marry him, "You're marrying me!" Cindy accepted my marriage offer but not the throwing away of the ring or not going back east to speak tell the other man face to face it set the stage of the open and honest no secrets relationship we have today 30 years later.
Dr. and Mrs. Bo Svoboda
Modesto, CA

E-mail No. 4

We met after my husband completed boot camp and A school and was on his way overseas for the first time. Both of us are from the Midwest, and 18 years old. I saw him four months later and got married 47 days later and have been married October 26th for 42 years. 32 of those years were with him being in the Navy. I really do believe that the deployments in our younger years are what helped us stay together as you never had too much time together to keep a fight going.
Katie Terry

E-mail No. 5

I was a single mom of six, ages 2-14; he was a confirmed bachelor when we met (while working) at a state hospital in 1984. I never intended to marry again — and he never intended to marry at all, so we became best friends. Love quickly followed.
We got married on April Fool's Day, 1989. I told him then that I would never consider divorce — homicide, maybe, but never divorce. Since 1997, we have been foster parents to over 30 kids, have adopted 5 and now have 11 "grandkids" and 2 more on the way. We presently have 12 kids in the house and work side by side 24/7, couldn't do that unless we were still "best friends." I thank God every day for sending me my soul mate.
Darlene and Todd Pruett
Abilene, TX

Wonderful stories each and every one of them! To the writers, thanks again for trusting me with your stories, and to the many who are buying my book, "The Mr. & Mrs. Happy Handbook" thank you!

Hey, I'll be signing my book Tuesday in Tampa at Borders Books, 909 N. Dale Mabry from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., and I hope to see you there!

If you can't make it, you can always ordered an autographed copy at www.happyhandbook.com!

Thanks,
Steve Doocy