Marital training on the job

By Staff
Jason Cannon
Inside today's edition of your Franklin County Times, you'll find our annual bridal guide.
In the tabloid section you'll find two couples, the McKinney's and the Hindmans.
Their stories represent one couple's venture into a new marriage and another couple's adventures over a 50 year relationship.
In a day and time where the divorce rate is nearly 50 percent, I find stories of couples who have weathered their troubles together refreshing.
My wife, Tiffany, and I have been married for four years but it seems like so many more.
Our situation is unique in that we work together. We always have. We met on the job in 2003 and have been side by side ever since.
We've been married for four years but we often joke that we could claim an additional four years for the time we spend together at work. We call this "credit for time served."
"There's no way I could work with my husband/wife."
We hear that a lot.
We always say it's really not that bad. More often than not, it's a big help.
Regardless of how tired we may be, we want to see each other succeed. Our individual successes and failures directly affect us both, professionally and personally.
When you need someone to make that extra push – to find that extra 10-percent of effort – having that person be your husband or wife is hard to beat.
And the news business can be rough on a marriage. If you're going to dedicate yourself to your job, that often means 15 hour days and 70-plus hour weeks. Throw in some weekend work and you've got a recipe for marital disaster.
Tiffany's always understood my work schedule because she knows how it is. When Lizzie was a baby, there were several times I would come home to see her for an hour or so. When she fell asleep, I'd go back to work.
There were also many times I was racing home at about Lizzie's bed time.
I would call Tiffany as I was getting in my truck and ask her to keep her up for just a few more minutes.
We've eaten many late suppers in the conference room, the break room or on insert tables in a newspaper pressroom.
At three years old, Lizzie knows her way around a newspaper better than most people 20 and 30 years her senior.
They both join me at banquets and award ceremonies that I'm covering. It's a good thing that Lizzie likes to dress up.
We've always found ways to make difficult times and conflicting schedules work. We've always played the hand we were dealt as a team.
This has made what could be a complicated marriage a lot of fun and for what it's worth, it's our recipe for success.