Claire first showed an interest in counseling when she volunteered on a crisis hotline for teenagers when she was fourteen. Now a licensed social worker, she maintains a private practice near Seattle and specializes in marriage counseling. Her own happy marriage came as something of a surprise to her. She spent most of her life as a 'marriage skeptic,' possibly because her own parents divorced when she was four. Above all, Claire knew she did not want to "settle" for a marriage that was just functional or companionable. "Couples today, myself included, are looking for a high degree of connection in their marriages," says Claire. Keeping a strong emotional connection alive is a tall order. It takes a higher degree of relationship skills than most of us have been taught. One of those skills is how to resolve resentments, hence Claire’s first book, Save Your Marriage: Get Rid of Your Resentments . Claire says life with her software programmer husband has taught her at least as much about communication as her education has, though he is still waiting for her to learn C++.