Id like to say something about pre-marital counselling.

I'd like to say something about pre-marital counselling.  When my partner suggested it, I was skeptical that it would benefit us.  But she was keen and I figured there was nothing to lose.  Well, I was wrong.  There were definitely losses, the main one being the loss of my illusion that we had a pretty robust relationship that was ready for marriage. 

Turned out there were a number of significant issues that I wasn't aware of, but over the course of several weeks, we managed to resolve most of them in a satisfactory manner.  More importantly, we picked up some skills on how to communicate effectively and 'tune in' to and identify potentially hazardous patterns of behaviour and attitudes.  Our counsellor was (is) great!  She didn't take sides and was fair in all her interactions with us.  Our wedding is going ahead next month and I would like to thank her for her competence as well as the personal interest she took in helping us clear up some things that may have caused major problems down the track if allowed to go unattended.  Bob, Melbourne