“I take thee”

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachelle Elsea
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall Air Force Base's chapel recently hosted a free Marriage Retreat in Panama City Beach for more than two dozen couples.

The three-day event included a two-night hotel stay, meals, four learning sessions and most importantly, plenty of couple time.

"When we arrived on Friday we were greeted with complimentary hors d'oeuvres," said Senior Airman Joe Giles, 325th Mission Support Group logistics planner and participant in the retreat. "Then we began our first learning session."

The learning sessions, taught by four of Tyndall's base chaplains, were based on the vows taken during a marriage ceremony. The first session's title was "I take thee."

"We learned to appreciate our spouses during the good times and the bad," said Airman Giles.

On Saturday the couples attended two additional classes, "To have and to hold" and "For better or worse," each lasting about 90 minutes.

"The main idea was geared toward spending time with your spouse," said Airman Giles. "They also taught us new techniques to learning how to say you're sorry and how different people require different methods of an apology depending on their personality."

His spouse also found great value in the learning sessions.

"I learned that although we have been together for ten years, but only married for three, we still are getting to know each other and it's great," said Mrs. Shalanda Giles, 325 Aerospace Medicine Squadron periodic health assessment nurse. "My favorite part of the retreat was learning a skill and then using it when we had one on one time and the ability to use it in a normal conversation."

Sunday concluded with one more learning session, "To love and cherish," and a vow renewal.

"At the end we said our total vows over," said Airman Giles. "It was great. It was like we were getting married again."

Overall the experience was eye-opening for many couples.

"We discovered a lot of couples have the same issues we do," said Airman Giles. "This helped us to learn many methods to solving conflicts."

Airman Giles and his wife agreed that they would definitely go again.

"It is important for couples because it reassures any fears that you are having, in my case, Joe is deploying in March and I was kind of scared that we didn't have that close bond, that "1st date" bond, that we had 10 years ago, and let me tell you, it is still there," said Mrs. Giles. "Joe and I get so caught up in our job, kids, school, bills, and house "stuff" that we forget to take time for us and this retreat gave us that time together. It was a truly amazing experience."

For additional information regarding Marriage Retreats contact the base chapel at (850) 283-2925.