Search Results for: blog the first year of marriage

Learning Marriage from Your Parents

I was raised with somewhat progressive views on marriage.  It feels strange to even be typing that, and it’s certainly nothing I ever thought growing up.  I know that on the overall spectrum of views on marriage, the ideals with which I was raised would only be in the middle, and probably closer to the conservative side of the middle.  But it’s still so surprising to me how many people aren’t even that far. I’ve already shared my story about my college roommate.   The reason she and her boyfriend didn’t talk for years about division of labor in the household, … Continue reading →

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 →

5 Topics to Discuss before Marriage

How many couples do you know take the time to discuss money, children and other important issues before they get married? Maybe you jumped right into marriage without seriously considering some of these life-impacting issues. If you or someone you know is considering tying the knot, here are five topics that you should discuss before walking down the aisle. It could save a lot of conflict in the future. The first is children. Do you both want children? Nothing is more devastating than a couple getting married and one expecting to have children but the other one dead set against … Continue reading →

Gay Marriage Debate Rages

Posted on by

I moved from North Carolina almost a year and a half ago, but I still have many good friends there. Two days ago, North Carolina said “No thanks” to same-sex marriage by passing Amendment One. In case you’ve been in a coma the few weeks, Amendment One reads “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized.” The amendment was passed by a vote of 61 percent for and 39 percent against. Before we go bashing North Carolina, let me say that it is just one of many states that … Continue reading →

Genealogy Used as a Weapon in Election Years

Posted on by

Genealogy is the study of family. Most genealogists spend a great deal of time working on their own family tree. Professional genealogists often work on other people’s family trees. In election years, or at least in this one, it seems that politicians want to use genealogy as a weapon to use against their opponents. I find this to be a very strange choice. It isn’t unusual for a politician to let potential voters know that he or she is married and has children. If I had to guess, the purpose of this is to make the candidate look like a … Continue reading →

When Your Relationship Is Not Part of Your Marriage Anymore

Have you ever just stepped back and wondered what happened to the relationship with your spouse? You may be married but the relationship has ended. You go to work, come home, hardly speak and go to bed to do it all over again the next day. How much longer can you go on living without a relationship? Many married couples will say that their relationship has lost passion. That they just don’t feel the same they did when they were first dating their spouse. Of course they don’t, that initial phase of finding out all those exciting and crazy things … Continue reading →

January Check In: New Year’s Resolutions in Marriage

It’s time to check in and see how you are doing on your New Year’s resolutions. Did you make any resolutions in the area of your marriage? If you didn’t, I strongly encourage you to do so. Call them resolutions, goals or whatever you like…all of us could take steps to improve our marriages. In fact, this is my challenge for me and you the reader. Think of one thing you can do in the upcoming month to make your marriage better. Is there something that you know drives your spouse crazy that you could stop doing? Is there something … Continue reading →

A Different View on Marriage

When I first seriously thought about writing for the Marriage blog, a topic that essentially breaks down into being about love and relationships, my initial reaction was “Eugh!” So then what am I doing here? Upon deeper examination, I realized that my reaction was not to writing about marriage and love itself, but to the forms in which that usually occurs. I don’t really go for lovey-dovey type stuff, and in many ways my husband and I have a somewhat nontraditional, or at least a different, relationship (though in many other ways we’re very traditional). I’m so passionate on this … Continue reading →

More Hollywood Splits Plus One Marriage

I just want to finish my “In Memoriam 2011” series, but celebs just won’t stop announcing splits. First up is Debra Messing. The “Will and Grace” actress announced she split from hubby of 10 years, actor-television producer Daniel Zelman. The two met while students at New York University and dated for years before making it official in 2000. They have a seven-year-old son, Roman. But, this breakup will be a bit like a Demi/Bruce one in that it seems to be terribly amicable. So much so that the couple have been separated for most of 2011, but still lived together. … Continue reading →

Turkey Day Drama This Year?

It is almost Thanksgiving and I am getting ready to for our annual guilt trip by my in laws. Every year around the holidays this happens when they know we like to do Thanksgiving at our house and his mother says that she understands. Even though she says she understands and is not upset we always seem to get the guilt trip. OK to be honest it is not me that gets the guilt trip because honestly it does not bother me enough anymore to feel guilty but my husband he still gets the guilt trip. I am sure that … Continue reading →