Category: Marriage & Partnership
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Just Two: The New Reality for Empty Nest Couples
As an empty nest couple with no grandchildren, my husband and I are rediscovering the joy of being “just two” again. So when we agreed to watch our children’s dogs for the weekend while both sets of kids were out of town, I teased him that this would be low-key grandparent practice. Although all four…
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33 Lessons from Marriage
Every anniversary is a milestone Milestones mark significant points along a journey. In the case of marriage, the “milestone” anniversaries are generally the decades, or the quarter or half centuries. But I prefer to believe every anniversary is a milestone. After all, each year represents 365 more days of mutual commitment to the institution and…
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The Toothpaste Test
Living in harmony starts with the toothpaste test As another wedding anniversary looms I find myself thinking back to those early years of learning to live together in harmony. The difference between deciding to marry and living everyday life together is like fishing for sardines and landing a 100-pound halibut. The reality is so much…
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Failure to Negotiate
Too Chicken to Haggle Over Chickens The root of most marital arguments is failure to communicate. In my marriage, it’s failure to negotiate. That’s because I married a man with the soul of a horse trader, while I possess the heart of a chicken. He relishes negotiating the numbers, but I abhor haggling. Our most…
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Sweating the Small Stuff
Sometimes it’s the little things that get you I’ve always thought of myself as a flexible person, one who goes with the flow, and doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Apparently, I am delusional. Because some small stuff really does make me sweat. Here’s the list of my top five: #1 – Unmade beds With dogs,…
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Like the Back of My Hand
How well do you really know the back of your hand? I know a lot of things about my husband after 31 years of marriage. You might say I know him like the back of my hand. But apparently, one thing I don’t know about him is actually… the back of his hand. We were…