Search Results for: blog the ebb and flow of marriage

Does Marriage Really Change?

It wasn’t that long ago I was having a conversation with a woman who has been married for less than a year. We got on the topic of how marriage changes, something she didn’t quite believe. I remember being there. You think it will always be full of passion and you will always put each other’s needs first. Everything your spouse does is cute. Well here is the reality. It won’t always be full of passion because sometimes you will be exhausted at the end of a long day. You won’t always put your spouse’s needs first, especially when the … Continue reading →

The Superhero and the Damsel

Does your man feel like a superhero? Like he can do anything in your eyes? If you think about it, men like to believe they are conquerors. They like to be viewed as someone who can go above and beyond your expectations. They want to be seen as strong, the one who comes to the rescue. My husband does this in a number of ways. He can open any jar, fix just about anything in our house and can find solutions to virtually any problem. If he could don a cape, I think he might. While most men like to … Continue reading →

The Ebb and Flow of Marriage

Like the tides that ebb and flow, so do marriages…seasons and times where things go down but then come back up again. Sometimes these ups and downs are caused by real troubles in life. It could be a job change, sickness, financial difficulties, rebellious children and other family problems. When life is on an even keel then we might feel like our marriage is flowing along smoothly. But there are other times in our marriage when the ebb and flow isn’t caused by obvious life challenges. Sometimes we go through moments in our marriage when we allow feelings to dictate … Continue reading →

Estate Planning and the Step Family

For too many of us, estate planning is the thing we’re always going to get to but often don’t. It’s like flossing, but with exponentially greater potential for harm. I understand why we procrastinate, believe me I do, but a failure to act in this department can have a devastating effect on your family. Our financial planner had been after us to create an estate plan for a year; as we began preparations for an extended trip through Mexico, it seemed irresponsible not to have something in place. We contacted an attorney who came highly recommended, and blithely scheduled an … Continue reading →

Marriage is Like the Sea- Part 2

When I told Mick about my last article he came up with a couple of extra ideas. First he said, ‘So marriage is like the sea because it’s dark and stormy?’ Just as well I know he was joking. Sadly, the reality is for some people that is exactly what it is like. Marriage is a constant battle as each one seeks to get their own way and stormy arguments result. A little bit of give and take is in order in any marriage. Then he mentioned that marriage was like the sea in that there are tides. Ebb and … Continue reading →

Ask a Marriage Blogger: Are You Protecting Your Spouse or Taking Away Their Choices?

A few days ago, I received a private message from a reader and I apologize to her that I’m just now getting around to addressing this question. I have a question and you might be the right person to answer it. I enjoy reading your blogs and I find that many times we are on the same wavelength. A few weeks ago, my husband and I were talking about having children. We’ve been married for two years and his parents are very eager to become grandparents. He’s never expressed a great deal of interest one way or another before, but … Continue reading →

Ten Tips to Building a Strong, Smart Marriage

Everything in life is based on perception. Our perceptions of the world around us suggest how we handle everything from our interpersonal relationships to how much faith we put into our fellow man. Positive experiences breed positive viewpoints, so forth and so on. So here are ten tips to help you make better choices and decisions about your marriage and how you let perception affect you. Our interpersonal differences and disagreements are not the problem; how we cope with them determines whether our not we will be successful in our marriage Our marriages are more important than we may initially … Continue reading →

Seasons of Testing

There are certain stages and circumstances in life that a married couple goes through in which the relationship is tested. While everyday can certainly be a test and an indicator of the strength of your relationship, some life events seem to bring out what truly lies underneath. One of the earliest circumstances I can remember my marriage being greatly tested in is about a year after we had our first child. I was pregnant with our second child when in the third month I miscarried. We each handled things very differently. Because of that, there were times we just weren’t … Continue reading →

Life Doesn’t Always Come in Neat Little Packages

Life doesn’t always come in neat little packages. That has certainly been something my husband and I have discovered over the past couple of weeks. In fact, our packages have consisted of things such as problems with our teens (some minor and some not), an unexpected medical emergency ($751), family drama during Thanksgiving, a job change for my husband, a vehicle dying on us, and now trying to figure out how three drivers can share two vehicles. All of this in just two weeks…and meanwhile, I am trying to enjoy what is supposed to be the best time of the … Continue reading →

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

It’s funny how much things change from generation to generation. My grandparents were married for over fifty years when my grandmother died. For their generation staying married was what they did, no one looked anywhere else, they took what they had and made the best of it. My grandparents adored each other but that’s not to say they didn’t drive each other crazy sometimes too, but they stuck it out, through the good and the bad. When I was growing up my family was the odd one out. My father died when I was three so I had a step … Continue reading →