Songwriting Duo JOHNNYSWIM Share Marriage Advice: ‘Like a Dance’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Abner and Amanda Ramirez, the couple behind JOHNNYSWIM, shared how they balance marriage and parenting with touring the world.
“It’s more like a dance,” Amanda told Relevant. “My friends call it more like a dance than a balance because sometimes, you know, we’re all the way in with music and sometimes we’re just at home for weeks at a time. So, you can kind of just go with the flow however you can.”
“But the biggest thing, I think, is just being present,” she continued. “Like when we’re with our kids, we just try to be with our kids and have fun. And when we’re at work, then we kind of have to go, ‘Here, mommy and daddy have to go to work.”
“Like you’re kind of just all in doing your best,” Abner added. “You know, you’ve trained for this. There’s not really a lot of balance as much as it is, I think, a dance is great as it is just all in.”
While the couple always tries to remain focused on the task at hand, sometimes marriage gets in the way, and difficulties arise from being around each other so much. However, having spent 15 years doing this dance, Abner and Amanda now understand how to leave space for each other and allow time for things to work out.
“If you can rely on two things, that’d be patience and listening,” Abner said.
“The best way to bridge communication differences is understanding how the other person communicates first,” Amanda added. “So, instead of always trying to get your point across, listen enough to understand and try to recognize how the other person can hear properly as well.”
“I think as long as you can kind of see how the other person communicates, you can kind of work through anything,” she continued.
The couple opened up about marriage and parenting on the road in their book “Home Sweet Road.”
“When you’re on the road as much as we are, time spent at home starts to feel a lot like vacation. We decided early on that we want to spend as much time together as possible…so when we go on tour, we all go on tour,” they said.
“We’d be lying if we said the idea of traveling the country with your bandmates, and three children wasn’t a little bit scary, but it’s all we know. Home Sweet Road is our story of finding love, making music and building our life one city at a time,” the couple added.
Movieguide® previously reported on JOHNNYSWIM:
They may be one of the most popular musical acts right now ahead of their television programming debut, but Amanda and Abner Ramirez of Johnnyswim know that faith comes first.
“I believe in Jesus. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the gifts of the spirit. I believe that He set me free. When I need guidance, I pursue Him,” Abner told Relevant. “I believe that, when we go in the room as Johnnyswim, and we sing songs, there’s an opportunity as representatives of Jesus Christ and God himself, there are opportunities for healing in bodies and souls and minds and relationships, and we fight for that. When we’re singing, that’s the motivation behind our words, but motivation behind the voice coming out of our lungs, the breath coming out of us is that we believe through the power of God Himself, you can be changed.”
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