A TRULY MOMENTOUS MILESTONE…..!

On February 20, 2010, my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! This is a monumental milestone, one which most of us will never reach. And so, 50 years to the day they originally pledged their eternal love and devotion to each other, they renewed their wedding vows in front of close family and friends. The priest emphasized how very rare my parents are and what a profound example they are for the rest of us.

What does it take to make it through 50 years of love and devotion? No doubt there will be hard times, distressing days, financial hardships, and all the rest. As with any life, there will also be joy, laughter, and great memories.

Why do so many fail to reach this milestone? Although it was far more common 50 years ago, today very few people get married right out of high school. Many of us opt to complete our college educations, jumpstart our careers, and establish ourselves before getting married. This is wise, because the divorce rate for those who marry under the age of 28 is much higher than beyond that age.

I personally believe that the single biggest reason for the high divorce rate is simply this: We choose the wrong mate in the first place. Perhaps we were hurt in the past, and we cling to this individual to be our life preserver, someone who will nurture and take care of us. Perhaps we were unhappy earlier in life and chose a spouse who exemplifies the diametric opposite of our upbringings. Or perhaps we felt sorry for our potential spouse in his earlier life and felt we needed to rescue him from the hardships he endured. In any event, we choose mates not from the emotionally strong, healthy part of ourselves, but from the weaker, dependent part.

It reminds me of a co-worker who was getting anxious as he approached 35 and remained unmarried. Desperate, he turned to the Internet and found a Russian woman hoping to come to the U.S. Although everyone at work warned him, he acted on the weak, desperate part of himself, married this woman, had a daughter and eventually ended up divorced. She sues him for money on a regular basis and will forever be an albatross in his life.

Another reason I feel divorce is so rampant is that nobody seems to take it as a serious commitment anymore. “Hey, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just divorce.” Of course, there will always be problems. That’s life. And going into it with an attitude like that will most assuredly end in divorce. So today, we have many “pretend” marriages, such as shack ups. That way, anyone can walk out the door at any time with no commitment required. And it’s amazing to think that arranged marriages have much greater success! In these situations, people seem to take it seriously and stick it out no matter what comes their way.

Is it any wonder that in our nation we have a staggering divorce rate of 40-50% for first marriages, 60% for second marriages, and 73% for third marriages? (Source: http://www.divorcerate.org/) The statistics alone give many of us pause to think long and hard before jumping into a lifetime commitment.

In sharp contrast is my very good friend who married at 28. Immediately after marrying, her spouse lost his job. Years later they would discover that she has a very rare genetic disease called Dercum’s Disease, a condition which renders her in constant pain, multiple surgeries, medications, sleeping constantly, and with no known cure. She and her husband have walked through fire together and come out the other side.

By now you are probably asking yourself what any of this has to do with voiceover. I can draw a parallel here by saying that on February 18 I had my 1 year anniversary with Voices.com It has been a frustrating, time-consuming year with technical malfunctions that delayed audition transmissions to a virtual dead end. Although I have ended my subscription with them for these reasons, I shall move forward in the voiceover world by finding a better path – a more streamlined, efficient, cost-effective way to promote myself in my own community and establish myself as voice talent that will actually be heard, not lost among a sea of thousands. I will continue to advance my technical knowledge and build a professional home studio. I am not quitting voiceover; I am simply finding a better way to make it happen.

And lastly…

Well, friends, today is February 24, 2010. Does that date ring a bell with anyone? Three seconds to think about it…Did you figure it out?

Drumroll, please!…..

One year ago today, in a virtual world far, far away, an unknown domain launched onto the Internet and started something big.

Today is the 1 year anniversary of VOCasting.com! I was among the first 30 members on this site, joining on only the second day of its original launching, so it has been exciting to see how we have grown tremendously in 1 year. We now communicate and connect across various sites, including LinkedIn, Bodalgo, Twitter, and others.

 VOCasting.com

Happy 1st Birthday, VOCasting.com!  And many, many more to come!