We saw a greeting card once that had an interesting message. The cover had a person wearing large dark glasses and the caption read “LOVE IS BLIND.” Inside it said, “BUT MARRIAGE IS DEFINITELY AN EYE OPENER.” How true. How true. For some of us it is more of an eye opener than we realized. What caused that? Change.

Many say that the only constant in life is change and many of us agree with that statement. There certainly are a lot of changes in our lives and in the world. The awareness of constant change is one of the reasons for this book. My wife Jane and I, Jack, want to show you a path you can follow to successfully navigate the ocean of changes coming your way.

In this book we use baseball teams as an analogy for what happens between couples in marriage because baseball players practice to keep their skills sharp and to improve them. This is exactly what married couples should do to keep their marriage strong and healthy. We hope you enjoy baseball or softball, either as a participant or a spectator. But if you don’t, we hope you can still see the connection. As you go through the program outlined in this book, we suggest that you see yourself in a training camp. There to help guide you and give you helpful tips are your manager, Rudy, and coaches Gabriel and Lou. One goal of this All-Star Marriage Training Camp is to prepare you to weather change and keep your marriage on a steady course.

The phrase “Practice makes perfect” certainly applies here. The All-Star Marriage Training Camp will lay out an orderly path for you and your spouse to live the married life of your dreams. Good luck and hang in there. You’ll be glad you did.