Two by Two

Today I took my roommates to the grocery store (Ger-O-SHER-EE Stor) and decided I didn't really need anything so I stayed in the car and read some text for my Family Processes class. I read this line:

Families who are better able to meet goals, maintain longer and more fulfilling relationships, and meet crisis are those families who have a capacity for tolerating intimacy and individuality.

Well, I had to read it maybe 5 times before I could really understand what it said. Amelia's translation:

Successful, strong families are structured, recognize the importance of not being controlling and smothering of each individual family member, but also sharing personal happenings to create a sense of closeness, and know how to communicate.

Hmmmm....not really, but....sort of.

Sometimes I wish the English language were better suited to express feelings and thoughts....without having a lot of training. (I'm just lazy.)

So, I read this and was thinking about it while looking around. I saw couples walking in and out of the grocery store, some old, some really young, some with kids. I tried to imagine the husband and wife/girlfriend and boyfriend/mom and dad as one unit and it was harder with the younger people. (Who would have thought!) I decided that meshing those two together and telling them to create a successful family was irrational without some sort of example to go off of or information to learn about it.

Where are those people going to get those examples and knowledge in an increasingly wicked world? From people who know what it means to mesh with a spouse and the effort/time/patience it takes.