Search Results for: blog love lessons learned on an alaskan vacation

Marriage Blog, I Bid You Farewell

An adventure that began two years ago in Pets, then expanded to Marriage a little over a year ago when I first introduced myself here, has reached journey’s end. Today I’m writing to say farewell. Dale should be rejoining you all very shortly. She’s already back to posting in Christian so I imagine it won’t be long before she makes a reappearance here. You’re also going to get a new face to Marriage, but definitely not to Families.com. Mary Ann Romans is one of Families most prolific bloggers. She’s written in different categories over the years and is currently covering … Continue reading →

Love Lessons Learned on an Alaskan Vacation

I started this year with a goal: looking for examples of what makes love work. I keep finding them. Sometimes in unexpected places. Like on our Alaskan vacation. Who knew love lessons would abound there? “That’s what marriage is…” Comedian Merl Hobbs entertained the ship the first night. A lot of his jokes were marriage centered. One of his tag lines (that he eventually incorporated into more than a few punch lines) was: “That’s what marriage is: doing stuff you don’t want to do.” As comics often do, through humor he highlighted trials of marriage most of us know, mostly … Continue reading →

Marriage is a Lot Like Pizza

Marriage is a lot like pizza. It needs firstly a good solid and well rounded base to put the toppings on. Marriages need to be on a solid base of commitment and love and well rounded with time together and time apart, of conversation and of silence. Then the base needs to be spread with tomato paste or tomatoes. A marriage needs a good spread of love. The next thing Mick and I put on when making pizza is oregano and chili to spice it up. All marriages need to be spiced up at times. Then the toppings go on. … Continue reading →

Coping with Black Clouds

As I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, this year has been one string of black cloud days after the other. I’ve shed plenty of tears and had days where I’ve been gripped by such fierce depression it’s been hard to get out of bed and act half-normal. But you know what’s pulled me through? (Besides my angels and my animals. Both have been there when I needed them most.) These two things: 1. The “we” factor, and 2. The sunshine factor. The “We” Factor Most of this year’s troubles have been mine. At any point, Wayne could have shrugged and … Continue reading →

What Works on the Court and in Marriage

Playing tennis can teach us something about marriage. When Mick and I partner each other at tennis and the opposition drops a short ball I tend to say ‘up, up, up’. He always found it helpful when we played competition tennis. The number of ‘ups’ was indicative of how fast he needed to move on the court. Even though we’re playing social tennis now and enjoy it, we’re still out there to try and win. Throughout the game we encourage each one when one of us hits a good shot and encourage each other to keep going when either of … Continue reading →

Marriage Is…

Earlier this year, I wrote about the “Love Is…” cartoons created by Kim Casali and their significance to my relationship with Wayne throughout our years together. In the vein of those cartoons, sans the drawings, I’ve whittled down some of the lessons I’ve learned from Families.com members, other bloggers, and my own personal experiences to compile a list of a few things I think marriage is. Marriage Is…: Filling in the Rest of the Sentence 1. Not always easy. 2. Sometimes aggravating. 3. About needing to trade places (i.e. putting yourself in your spouse’s shoes) from time to time. (Especially … Continue reading →

The Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed Game

When Wayne and I took our cruise, one of the activities was the Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed game. Three lucky couples got to play. (The rest of us in the audience got to play along in our seats.) Picking Couples The first to be chosen were the newlyweds. They looked for the most recently married couple on the ship. Of those in the audience to pick from, it came down to two who were married the weekend before the ship set sail. Since they were both married on the same day, it then came down to the hour they were married. … Continue reading →