I will be attending a bridal shower tomorrow for an arranged marriage between two Muslims, and I wish both of them the very best, lifelong marriage. So I was thrilled to receive a Google alert this morning about an excellent article in Pakistan Daily about preparing for a Muslim marriage. For those of us who are not Muslims, it may seem remarkable that Muslim Americans, many or most of whom marry...
On a beautiful summer afternoon like this one, I recall the pleasures of boating. I want to get out on the water. My husband does not. Am I being cheated? Is there something wrong with my marriage? Not at all. We promised to love each other “in sickness and in health,” not “by boat and by bicycle.” Our marriage is just fine. He’s a handy companion, and I love...
Five years from now, you will be a different person. You will have different interests, different tastes, different challenges. Date, live together, avoid commitment, and you’ll be free to move on to a partner who shares your new interests, matches your new tastes, helps with your new challenges. That’s the choice of many who were exposed to unhappy marriages or divorce while growing...
On Saturday evening, I watched the CBS made-for-TV movie, Vinegar Hill. I found myself yelling “Assume Love” at the screen many times. The movie’s based on an Oprah Book Club selection by A. Manette Ansay. It opens with a close-knit and cheery family of four packing up in Chicago to move in with his parents on their farm. Ellen and Jake have lost their jobs, and she’ll be...
The folks at Gallup released a poll on Monday about Values and Beliefs. Topping the list of moral acceptability: divorce. Seventy percent rated it morally acceptable. Only twenty-two percent said it was morally unacceptable. But it would be a mistake, I think, to jump to the conclusion that divorce has become no big deal for most of us. At the opposite end of the spectrum of sixteen morality...
