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Uncommon Marriage: Learning about Lasting Love and Overcoming Life's Obstacles Together

Review

Uncommon Marriage: Learning about Lasting Love and Overcoming Life's Obstacles Together

Tony Dungy led the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl victory in 2007 and was also the first head coach to lead his teams to the playoffs for 10 consecutive years. Retiring from coaching in 2009, Dungy now serves as a studio analyst for NBC’s “Football Night in America” and is dedicated to mentoring young and old alike to live uncommon lives. He is also the bestselling author of QUIET STRENGTH, UNCOMMON, THE MENTOR LEADER and THE ONE YEAR UNCOMMON LIFE DAILY CHALLENGE.

Lauren Dungy, an early childhood specialist and a bestselling children’s book author, serves as vice president of the Dungy Family Foundation, and is the national spokesperson for the iMom organization. She and Tony are the parents of nine children.

"Readers who are familiar with Tony Dungy’s professional career will especially value this inside peek into his personal life that he and Lauren so willingly offer with a glad and grateful heart."

UNCOMMON MARRIAGE is the story of their life together as man and wife, and how they traversed the uncommon difficulties and stressors of moving frequently, living apart in between moves, settling into new communities, finding the right church to become part of, parenting their children, adopting their children, figuring out how to make decisions together, learning from one another, and supporting each other when one was discouraged. In fact, as the Dungys share throughout their lovely and transparent book, their marriage is uncommon because of its duration, given today’s dismal divorce rate (theirs has surpassed the 30-year mark). However, the issues they have faced are similar to every other couple who is determined to work through life’s ups and downs and overcome the challenges as they arise (expected or unexpected).

The Dungys’ new book is sort of a timeline of their years together and is written as such. The two take turns telling their perspective of the same events as they transpired, and both call upon their memories to highlight what happened along the way and how they reacted to it. With all the professional moves that Tony was expected to make in his career as a coach, Lauren details how these decisions affected her and the children. They share how they dealt with the distances, time constraints and pressures to get too involved outside of their family unit as Tony and Lauren became more recognizable to the general public.

Chapter by chapter, the Dungys unfold their life together and how their faith in God and His biblical principles guided them through sometimes-rough territory. While the bulk of this text is a running commentary on their lives, the final pages contain a nifty section titled “The Core Principles of an Uncommon Marriage.” This is where readers can go to find out the Dungys’ key principles for living as a successful couple and references to these recommendations throughout the book. The couple recommends the following: look to the Bible as the guidebook and to Christ as the living example for your marriage; stay in sync spiritually; manage expectations and appreciate your differences; work as a team; practice committed love; communicate well and often; don’t run away from conflict; and support each other in serving others.

Readers who are familiar with Tony Dungy’s professional career will especially value this inside peek into his personal life that he and Lauren so willingly offer with a glad and grateful heart.

Reviewed by Michele Howe on February 19, 2014

Uncommon Marriage: Learning about Lasting Love and Overcoming Life's Obstacles Together
by Tony Dungy and Lauren Dungy, with Nathan Whitaker