A year and a half ago, my husband and I were driving through Longview on our way to our lawyer to file paperwork for our divorce. Along the side of the road my husband saw a billboard for VOW. He asked, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I did not say anything to him until we stopped at a red light a few blocks down the road...”

As I was teaching a workshop in Tyler, one young Latino couple in attendance told their story of choosing to live together after she became pregnant. During the class they decided that they would set a date to get married after being indecisive about marriage. Several months later I was out in the community and crossed paths with them again, now married and...