Search Results for: blog can married people have single friends

Finding Support from Your Friends

We’ve talked extensively about how important it is that we keep friends outside of our marriage.  And that doesn’t mean that we have friends who can’t also be friends with our spouses.  It just means that we look for emotional connections with more people than just our spouses.  I know it’s very true for me; my two best friends give me things my husband never could, and not just things like watching the six-hour BBC “Pride and Prejudice.” It’s a real romantic notion – both in the love and in the story sense of the word – that our spouses … Continue reading →

The Difference Between Friendship and Marriage

Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between friendship and marriage.  Not casual friendship, or even good friendship, but really-close, best-friends, rely-on-each-other-for-everything friendship.  If we look to the media for answers, it seems to imply that the only difference is physical desire.  In movies and television, the only or at least primary distinguishable change in the relationship between two characters that are best friends, and then become something more, is that their relationship adds a sexual element. Those are usually my favorite types of stories (as opposed to ones where the characters aren’t friends but jump right to dating), only … Continue reading →

Why Marriage Keeps Your Brain Healthy

The next time your spouse drives you absolutely crazy, keep in mind that he, or she, is probably helping to keep your brain healthy. That is because the challenges that our spouses give us, along with the love and support, may actually be protecting our brains. In fact, according to a recent study, sharing a life with another person means that we are less likely to develop cognitive impairment than single people who are not married. The study took place in Scandinavia and included 1,400 men and women. Married people are simply less likely to develop dementia than single people. … Continue reading →

Timberlake and Biel’s Wedding Video

As you probably know by now, one of the most anticipated weddings of the year took place last weekend. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were married last Friday at the Borgo Egnazia Resort in Puglia, Italy before family and friends. The couple, who have been dating on and off since 2007, reportedly called their wedding “magical.” Now you may be thinking I have confused my pop culture blog with my green blog, but wait, let me explain. This wedding is thought to have cost $6.5 million. Now, I know Biel and Timberlake are young, beautiful, talented, and earned every bit … Continue reading →

Wedding Rings and Gender Roles, Pt. 2

Last time I examined the discussion over whether or not men should have to wear wedding rings. Just about all of the arguments either for or against skipped one relevant consideration: whether or not women should have to or even enjoy wearing them. Only one article I found briefly acknowledged the idea: the author said that neither of her parents has worn a wedding ring for decades, for a variety of reasons. That’s all we’ve got: in the wedding rings debate we have in-depth considerations of male class traditions, shifting perspectives of masculinity, and a man’s role in a marriage, … Continue reading →

Time To Date, Again

When I was first divorced I dated, quite a lot. I didn’t know how to not be married so I wanted to get right back out there and find someone to love. When you are a single mother it’s much more complicated than just finding someone to love. You have to find someone who not only loves you, but your children. Then you cross your fingers and hope your kid likes them as well. This did not work out so well for me and after a couple years I thought I should just focus on raising Hailey and worry about … Continue reading →

A Growing Family

My daughter recently got married, I think I’ve touched on it before. It’s a new world for me, this empty nest thing. Hailey and I have been alone for such a long time, a little family island unto ourselves. Now, I have a son in law and she has a husband. Our family is pretty spread out, we are in Utah and most of our relatives are on the east coast. Holidays are usually spent with friends. Now Hailey’s family has expanded in ways I never even thought about. Today we went to a baby shower for Hailey’s sister in … Continue reading →

They Think Life is Easier Without a Husband

Sometimes people ask too much of me. Being a single mom means that my time is already over scheduled but sometimes other people don’t see it that way. They think that because I only have one child and no husband wanting his dinner on the table after a long day at work, that I have all this free time. I hate to break it to you, but I don’t. Even without a husband, dinner has to be made. Without a husband laundry still has to be done, the house still has to be cleaned and the yard mowed. The only … Continue reading →

I Choose Happiness

Life is hard, and sometimes very unfair. The life we dreamed of as a little girl, a husband, a family and a white picket fence has not materialized. Instead we are working long hours, taking care of our children alone, and that white picket fence? We are just happy to have a place to sleep at night. Life is not fair, but it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. I believe that happiness is a choice. Every day when I wake up, I make the choice to be happy. The car is making a funny noise? Thank goodness … Continue reading →

Those Crazy Tweens

The lovely tween years, they are almost as baffling as the teenage years. Your little angel has gone from being a smiling, happy, bouncy child to a moody, eye rolling, smart mouthed tween. How did this happen? As parents the behavior of a tween is challenging and as a tween, it’s completely new territory. Suddenly your child is talking back, rolling her eyes, crying over the tiniest imagined slight. Initially you look for reasons, just like you did when she was a toddler and overtired, but this time, the reason is just that she is a tween. Girls tend to … Continue reading →