Posts Tagged ‘marriage’

Last week, during a conversation I was having with a dear friend about an ex-boyfriend of hers, she dropped the “c” word. She called him “crazy.” Not just “crazy”, but “batshyt crazy.” Now, having used the word many times myself, I started thinking about all the times I’ve heard it used by women in reference to their exes. Seems to be quite common, but could it be that all of these guys actually are crazy? Could it be true that there is an overabundance of sociopaths roaming the streets, looking for the opportunity to…

Unless you’ve been on a desert island, you’ve heard a whole lot about Tracy McMillan lately.  For those of you who are not familiar, Tracy wrote the infamous “Why You’re Not Married” blog for HuffPost back in February 2011. That one post spread like wildfire, receiving over 2,000 comments and was no doubt shared hundreds of thousands of times over via email, Twitter and Facebook.   The response was really no different when she followed up with her May 2012 post, “Why You’re Still Not Married.”  Some folks were, as they say, “hot as fish grease.”

In my personal circle, many of…

“What do we really want?”  This is a question I’ve asked many of my single friends when the conversation inevitably comes around to relationships.  Some say a partner or a companion to see us through good and bad times.  Others say that it’s unconditional love or security.  But whatever that “thing” is that we are seeking, it seems that our perception is that we either don’t or can’t have it without benefit of a relationship.  We need for that special someone to come along and give to us what we are missing.  We will meet “The One”, and they will…

A single friend of mine recently shared an experience in which her well-meaning sister friend and a family member barraged her with questions about getting married and having children.  One is married, and both are new moms, so I suppose that they felt that it was their duty to save her from a bleak future of lonely, barren spinsterhood.  They went all in- telling her that it’s time for her to make a move; that she’s getting older and she’s going to regret not having children, blah, blah, blah.  Although she was able to handle this conversation with grace, my friend…

My mom always dreamt of a big wedding for me. But, never in her wildest dreams did she think things would turn out the way they did. I have always had issues with commitment. They stemmed from watching how my parents interacted with each other —my father was mean, spiteful and unfaithful. Although my mom tried to hide this from me, I always saw through everyone’s façade. My father’s infidelities taught me a debilitating lesson—the only person I could trust was myself and no one else. Observing him was a great tutorial on human behavior…

This week I tackle whether tying the knot should be part of all of our futures. (more…)

Recently in a meeting, someone said that married couples who meet at work are the least likely to divorce. Citing factors such as similar educational and professional backgrounds, work conditions, and like temperament, these couples are reportedly less likely to divorce than other couples. While there probably is some truth to this theory, I think shared experiences that are often dramatic, exciting, tragic, or exhilarating in nature also play a role in longer lasting marriages. (more…)

Have you spent hours trying on different outfits preparing to meet her? Have you listened intently, feverishly trying to project your sincere interest and appreciation for her unsolicited advice; as you think to yourself, “this is my wedding and I’m planning it how I want to?” When the phone rings and you see her name come up on the caller ID, do you cringe hoping your husband will pick up the phone? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then you have encountered The Other Woman. The Other Woman is your husband’s mother. (more…)

One of the most common questions I receive from men and women who’ve been in a relationship for a while and are considering marriage is: Should we live together before we get married?

The idea of living together before getting married seems to be growing more and more in popularity. Proponents of the idea list the numerous benefits to cohabitating – most of the time revolving around the theory that by living together before you get married, you get the opportunity to get a 360 degree view of your mate, thereby giving you the means to make an accurate assessment of whether…

Over the past couple of years, more and more of my personal friends have taken the step to either get married or get engaged.  When I first began to notice the trend, I thought it was just something that happens when you hit your mid-twenties - your peers start getting married.  As the numbers of engagement parties, wedding showers, and bachelor parties I was attending continued to grow, I realized, it’s not just my peers, but friends of varying ages and at varying stages of their lives have also started to take that step. I’ve had friends who are still in college…