• Communication in Marriage

    How To Show Appreciation To the Love of Your Life

    Growing up, my family had the best tradition at Thanksgiving. Gathered around the table, we would each take our turn and share what we were most thankful for that year. My brother was always funny, as he’d take the opportunity to poke fun at everyone for things that happened throughout the year. But then, right at the end, he’d hit us with the sentimental zinger that always made me and Mom cry. Dad and Mom always said they were thankful for the same thing every year: Family. I don’t remember what I said, but I recall how those words of appreciation reminded us that were weren’t just four people existing…

  • Relationship Advice

    How to Save Your Relationship When It’s Falling Apart

    Not getting what you need from a relationship is a real struggle. And over time, this is one of the main reasons why relationships fail.  Why a relationship fails can be anything. Maybe he had an affair. Maybe you did. Maybe money is tight and you worry all the time.  He is just not holding up his end of the bargain. It was supposed to be different. You don’t talk anymore or you fight too much.  Perhaps you are feeling alone in your relationship in every way. Perhaps you started out strong, but things have led to you just not feeling the love anymore. She’s changed and won’t sleep in…

  • Relationship Advice

    Did I Make This Whole Thing Up?

    I record random quotes that people say to me. Some are profound—some funny. I wrote one down a few years ago from my niece, who earned her doctorate at Yale. Referring to a final paper she was writing, she said, “Sometimes you come to a certain place in your argument and you wonder, did I make this whole thing up?” I laughed so hard; you would’ve thought I was front row at a Jim Gaffigan show listening to his Hot Pocket segment. But sometimes I’m not laughing, because I need to know how to be a better wife. Sometimes when I’m offering advice, I feel like a fraud. I’m supposed to…

  • Relationships Take Work

    Waste Time Wisely

    If you’re me, sometimes you feel guilty because of all the tasks you haven’t completed. Then, I’m reminded that it’s good – no, right – to waste time wisely. A few weeks ago, I was on a conference call discussing the software, KRONOS. One attendee was from Greece, and just like the way Italian chef, Giada De Laurentiis, says the word “spaghetti,” I could tell KRONOS was a Greek word just by the way it rolled off his tongue. So, being the nosy sort, and because, well, it was a conference call, I googled it. There are two Greek words about time. Chronos measures time by the clock. It’s quantitative, measured…