The U.S. and Saudi governments are both rolling out Healthy Marriage initiatives. But what a difference! Here in the U.S., a healthy marriage is defined as a mutually beneficial and satisfying relationship between two people with deep respect for each other and the skills to communicate and handle conflict. The initiative involves supporting and strengthening secular and faith-based marriage...
Today is the 35th anniversary of the day I got married. It was a gorgeous Spring day, and we married, surrounded by lilacs in bloom and our closest friends and relatives, in the garden behind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Cambridge home. Would we still be married now, if I knew then to Assume Love, Expect Love, and Find Third Alternatives? If we had been able to stay close through those...
Michael Buday and Diana Bijon wanted to share a last name: hers. On Monday, he finally got his new driver’s license with the name Michael Bijon. He sued the State of California–and got a change in the law–when they told him it would cost $350 and require court appearances to get a name change women can make for free. According to Reuters, only nine other states include this...
Even though we may vow to remain a couple for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live, most of us can’t imagine what lies ahead when we marry. As I and my friends grow older, the benefits of being part of a happily married couple become more and more obvious. Injuries, cancer, heart attacks, chronic illnesses, the deaths of our parents (or worse, our...
