I’ve been meaning to clean out my file cabinet. There is a pile of papers on my desk that needs a better home. But the file cabinet, one of those big, four drawer units with a lock on it, has been in seven different offices of mine since 1990, gathering papers, losing some, gathering more. There is no more room in it. I need to make time to clean it out. Over the 4th of July weekend, I...
You wouldn’t know it by the way they rush into relationships so intensely, but for some people, marriage is frighteningly close. When the fear overwhelms them, they desperately try to create some space. Unfortunately, it usually overwhelms them when the relationship is at its happiest and most intimate. For others, anything short of sharing the same pair of pants 24/7 can feel at times like...
A while back, a reader asked for some perspectives on her sex life with her husband. Not exactly my area of expertise, I thought, but as I read her story, I realized it wasn’t sex that was the problem. Let me share her tale but preserve her privacy. She wrote: I was wondering what your opinion is on exploring sexually within marriage. I am interested in [some more adventurous practices]...
It’s not easy being a daughter-in-law. Just ask mine. I think she was terrified of me when we met, because we come from different cultures, different countries, and different religions. These days, though, we get along pretty well in spite of all that, a good deal better than I got along with my mother-in-law at first. And though you would think being a daughter-in-law first would help you...
I would pick up those things from the pharmacy, but I can’t, because I get home after the pharmacy closes. That was my version of the truth in the last two months of my first marriage. We needed them, at least once a week. I believed my long commute and frequent late hours meant my husband should pick them up. He didn’t. I felt put-upon when I did without and had to up early and...
