***Thank the Angels in New York City and Philadelphia

By America’s #1 Love and Marriage Experts .

We are currently on an East Coast swing promoting our new book, Building a Love that Lasts: The Seven Surprising Secrets of Successful Marriage (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2010, available wherever books are sold). We have had multiple radio and TV interviews during our time in New York City and Philadelphia with a number of cities including New York City, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Buffalo, Springfield IL, a syndicated radio show based in Austin TX and heard in 10 major markets in the USA, and with a radio show that covers all of Canada. We have been in a whirlwind this week to say the least.

Today, we had a number of experiences that have convinced us that there must be Angels out there! Now before you think we have gone off the deep end, let us explain our day. You can then determine if we have lost our way!

We started our day at 4:30 a.m. At 6:00 a.m. we headed to Penn Station in New York City to catch our train to Philadelphia for an interview with WCAU, the NBC Channel 10 affiliate in Philadelphia.

As most people know, there have been record-breaking snowstorms in the northeast over the past two weeks. Philadelphia and Washington DC have recorded more than 65 inches of snow this winter! And as you might guess, there have been many consequences associated with these record setting snow accumulations such as school cancellations, closed Interstate highways, and cancelled flights and train departures.

We had a 7:17 a.m. train to Philly. When we got there, it showed “cancelled” on the Big Board. Since we had to be at Channel 10 at 9:30 a.m. we were on the verge of panic! What do we do?

When we looked at the line to exchange tickets it became clear to us that we were not going to get to Philly on time. It looked like at least an hour-long line.

As we stood and looked at the big board announcing train departures and cancellations – apparently looking rather forlorn – a lady with short gray hair and glasses suddenly appeared at our side. She asked us if we needed help. We told her our problem and she said, follow me.

We ended up at a ticket kiosk in the main hall of the terminal. Our “angel” told us to take the train heading to Harrisburg. Told we already had tickets she said, “Don’t worry about it. You can get a refund from Amtrak latter.

Being visitors to the area we had no idea that the train from New York City to Harrisburg, the one train that had not been cancelled, went through Philadelphia. We were saved by an angel! She disappeared as quickly as she appeared! Ten minutes later, we were on a train heading to our interview in Philadelphia. We arrived only 15 minutes later than we would have if our original train had not been cancelled. Thank you New York City for sending us this kind and lovely angel!

When we arrived in Philly, we crossed the grand hall of the 30th Street Station terminal and went outside to the taxi stand. There was snow everywhere and not a taxi in sight! There was no car in sight! To have come so far . . .

Then suddenly and out of nowhere, a Town Car pulled up and the driver said, “Can I help you?” Goodness, gracious, another angel had arrived! We crawled in the back seat, and for $15, fifteen minutes later we pulled into the NBC Channel 10 parking lot. We arrived just in the nick of time!

Our interview went off without a hitch. Channel 10 called us a cab and about 20 minutes later we arrived back at the 30th Street Station.

When we looked up at the departure board, our hearts sunk. The return train to New York City had been cancelled! We asked each other, what do we do now.

Charley said he would stand in the long ticket exchange time while Liz ran down the terminal to the Customer Service counter. A few minutes later Charley heard Liz’s voice reverberating through the terminal yelling “Charley!” “Charley, come here!”

Charley bolted for the other end of the terminal in the direction of the Customer Service counter and Liz’s voice. It seems that another angel had arrived in the form of a Philadelphia policeman. When Liz told the customer service representative our dilemma he indicated that she would have to go back and stand in the ticket exchange line. Liz replied that if she did that she and her husband would miss their train back to New York City and the two radio interviews scheduled for that evening.

Here is where the policeman came in. He told to customer service rep to “Help this nice lady so she can get back to New York City.” The customer service man leaped to his feet and led both Liz and Charley out to a ticket kiosk outside the customer service area while the policeman watched his counter. He punched in a bunch of numbers and walla, out came two new tickets on a different train leaving for New York City in 10 minutes. He told us that we could get refunds on our unused tickets when we got back to Penn Station.

We arrived in New York City only a few minutes later than our originally scheduled time. We made it to our hotel room 20 minutes later where we conducted two back-to-back radio interviews via telephone. Both went off without a hitch.

In our nearly 44 years of marriage we have never had so many things go wrong in one day, only to have each one corrected almost immediately by our guardian angels. There is no doubt in our mind – the people in of Philadelphia and New York City are among the most helpful, polite, and courteous people we have ever had the pleasure of meeting. If any of you know those angels who helped us, please thank them for us from the bottom of our collective hearts!

Simple Things Matter in love and marriage . Love well!

By Dr. Charles D. Schmitz and Dr. Elizabeth A. Schmitz

Authors of the best-selling book and multiple-award winning book Building a Love that Lasts : The Seven Surprising Secrets of Successful Marriage (Jossey-Bass/Wiley 2010) Available wherever books are sold.

Winner of the INDIE Book Awards GOLD Medal for Best Relationship Book
Winner of the 2009 Mom’s Choice Awards GOLD Medal for Most Outstanding Relationships and Marriage Book
2009 Nautilus Book Awards Winner for Relationships