Beginning in 1997, Sharon and I joined a couple’s group with two other couples. One of the couples was Eddy and Marty Crouch (Sharon had known Eddy since 1987 through the Living Enrichment Center, and Eddy also officiated at our wedding/commitment ceremony in July of 1994-Marty was her new husband since 1996), and Jo and Jim Hussey. Sharon, Jo and Eddy also shared a woman’s group, spawned from the Empowerment Center core group process for several years previous to this time. The Empowerment Center/Community was a community begun by Michael and Diane Sutton in 1992. Both Sharon and I had not only received training in 1992 in the beginning of the Empowerment Center/Community, but we also volunteered several times to help with the training of new members in weekend workshops through the middle of 1993. I grew to love and appreciate Michael and Diane Sutton at the deepest possible level. Michael died in 2013 of complications from bladder cancer, and I find myself still feeling grief over his death.
As a couple’s group, we met once a month for many years, then at the recommendation of the Hussey’s, we cut the frequency down to four times a year, beginning in 2009. The group figures prominently in encouraging the awakening of my own hesitant/repressed voice, though Marty, as well as the group, had to be in the throws of its own death before that would occur. The group ended August of 2017, one month prior to Marty’s Death With Dignity process. I will make extensive commentary on this process later in the work.
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