Search Results for: blog married life a tale of give and take

Looking For My Father

When I was twenty-seven, I decided to come to Utah to find my biological father. It wasn’t difficult to locate him, and he seemed genuinely glad to be reunited with me. It was a strange, bittersweet experience. As I met his other children, I got to be around people who looked like me and had similar talents and intellects for once. As my father and I interacted, I slowly began to understand why my parents were not able to stay together. The problems went far beyond incompatibility. They were incapable of being there for each other. They each had severe … Continue reading →

Speaking in Anger

When I was a little girl, we had a ton of storybooks on a shelf in our family room, and I spent hours reading them over and over. One was the classic story of the husband and wife who were sitting down to dinner and got into an argument. Harsh words were exchanged, and the husband couldn’t control his temper. Pointing at the meat in the center of the table, he exclaimed, “I wish that sausage was stuck on the end of your nose!” Now, if there’s anything we’ve learned from other fairy tales in the past, it’s that the … Continue reading →

Pets and Your Marriage

Today we’re going to look at pets and your marriage. Do you have a pet? What place does you pet or pets play n your marriage? Who made the decision to get the pet? Was it a joint decision or did one person inherit the pet when they married? Or is it a case of his and hers pets? Recently I heard of a woman who went out one day and bought home two dogs, without consulting her husband. To make matters worse the husband was not greatly enamored of dogs. Needless to say, her decision to acquire the dogs … Continue reading →

How to Deal with an Allergy in your Marriage

These days many families seem to have at least one person who has an allergy. So, what difference does it make to a marriage when one partner has an allergy? If you or your spouse has an allergy, you might find the next two blogs helpful. Allergies have been on my mind a lot lately, partly because I recently reviewed a new book about allergy-safe family food and partly because I live with allergies. For years I struggled with pain so that I was unable to function at times. It took a long while before we discovered the cause was … Continue reading →

Behind Every Good Man…

Recently I wrote about 87 year old volunteer, Cyril Brown. Don’t you wonder what this guy would be like in a marriage? Would he be so involved with others that he doesn’t have time or make time for his spouse? Or would he be the kind of guy who helps out at home and is looking for ways to serve his wife? It made me wonder. We’ve heard the adage about ‘behind every good man there’s a good woman.’ Is it true in this case? Maybe Cyril hasn’t got a wife. That’s why he spends so much time helping others. … Continue reading →

A Blind Date Leads to Love and Years

I never went on a blind date, although I tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to arrange one or two. But for one couple a blind date turned out to be just the beginning. That blind date was over 50 years ago. This year the couple, Nancy and James Hibbert of Australia, achieved something statistics show only about five percent achieve – they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. When asked the secret to a long and happy marriage the Hibberts, who live at Culburra Beach, replied ‘give and take.’ And really, that sums it up in a nutshell. That’s exactly the … Continue reading →

“Laugh-In” Star Dies

The man responsible for making phrases such as “Sock it to me” and “You bet your sweet bippy” famous has died. Dick Martin, who made millions smile on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, according to news reports. He was 86. Given his health issues it really is amazing he lived as long as he did. Martin lost the use of one of his lungs when he was 17 and in the last several years he needed supplemental oxygen to stay alive. According to a family spokesperson, the legendary … Continue reading →

Duke and the Great Pie War (2005)

This installment in the VeggieTales collection of spoofed Bible stories was a little bit odd to me. I didn’t find it as well constructed as the films of the past. I knew they were trying to make a point, but I didn’t feel they actually made it. Let’s take a closer look at it. The theme for the show was loving your family. We see Laura Carrot as Miriam, older sister to baby Moses. She resents having to take care of the baby while her parents are working in the brickyard as Pharoah’s slaves. She used to get all the … Continue reading →

Thoughts to Ponder about Romance

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I read an article recently that stuck me hard. It brought on a realization that I probably should have hit many years earlier but never did. The article was about couples and romance. Most of us that have been married for a while know that the idea of the knight riding up on the horse is not going to happen. The fairy tale couple and the forever happy ending are not reality. However, that does not mean that there cannot be some romance in your marriage. Until now I had thought about romance as the occasional bouquet of flowers or … Continue reading →

Animals in Historical Mysteries: An Interview with Mary Reed (and Eric Mayer)

Another author who recently humored my request for an interview is Mary Reed, who co-authors the John the Eunuch series with Eric Mayer. And actually I got double my money this go around because this dynamic duo is also a married one as well. I’m going to keep my intro short because in reading their answers you’ll come to see how much they not only love animals (especially cats), but also use animals in their work and have a lot of fun with it. Courtney Mroch: What kind of things do you write about? Mary Reed/Eric Mayer: We write historical … Continue reading →