Parenting is an ever-changing job. As soon as you think you’ve got one stage conquered, along comes another challenging you to adjust and fine-tune your parenting skills. Marriage is also ever-changing. While the changes may not be as apparent as the obvious growth from infant to childhood to teen to young adult, they are there […]
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Growing up in Michigan, I remember the slogan “Winter Wonderland” depicting Michigan’s winter beauty. We’ve long since given up that slogan for other slogans, but the term remains engrained in my psyche. It is a way to get through drab, dreary cold winter days by focusing on the beauty of snow-covered hills and streets and […]
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Marriage lessons sometimes are best delivered in humor. And no one does a better job of that than the person who first thought up an Ole and Lena joke. This one is for all of us men who, in the inglorious tradition of Ole, have ever uttered a wrong-headed prayer. It was a Sunday afternoon […]
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Normal honesty is vital to a successful marriage, but not stupid honesty. It does not pay to be so honest that someone sleeps on the sofa or at the Quality Inn. Brad Reflections: Has honesty ever gotten you into trouble in your marriage? How did you get out of trouble? Sign up for […]
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He really would rather stay home. But in the end, after some nagging, he decided to go to the party with people from my workplace. As it turned out, things were not as boring as I had expected. I had fun, got a chance to be witty. We both mingled, and before I knew it, […]
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Even though it has been thirty years since I moved out of my parents’ house, whenever I visit, I’m a child again. I feel safe and protected sleeping in my mom and dad’s home. Even though it has been years since I moved out, whenever I visit, I can’t wait for another serving of Mom’s […]
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He looked down at the dried-out pot roast, hidden by lumpy gravy. The asparagus was limp to exhaustion from over cooking. At least the potatoes and carrots were okay, coated with a layer of brown drippings. How could she have ruined pot roast, she asked herself. It was the one fail-safe meal – according to […]
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Two great teams from two great schools in one great state. So why can’t they just get along? Because they are like siblings, constantly competing against each other, seeking attention. Within the confines of family, we fight. We may have disagreements, but to the rest of the world, especially our kids, we put up a […]
Read More A friend, told that I was writing a series of short meditations on marriage, put the question to me: “Have you written about forgiveness yet?” Well … uh … maybe tomorrow. I suppose the easiest thing I could observe about forgiveness is that no marriage could survive without a good deal of it going both […]
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We each have bad spells—bad days, bad weeks, bad months, even bad years when everything seems to go wrong, nothing works out the way we want it. The fact of being married doesn’t mean these bad periods coincide. One spouse’s good days can help alleviate, or at least put into perspective, the other’s bad day. […]
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