A Completely Changed Life

After reading some of the forum posts by tmwhalens, I thought I’d share a story of lives and one marriage that has had more than the usual problems and every day hassles to overcome. Ron Brookman says when he first married he says ‘it was for all the wrong reasons.’ It was more about keeping up appearances and trying to subvert and hide his homosexuality. Ron had two children with his first wife. The marriage was dysfunctional and unhappy. After she left him, from time to time he visited places in search of a homosexual relationship. This was despite the … Continue reading →

Defying the Odds

There are always exceptions to any rule. Statistics can give a general pattern of society’s trends but there are always those that defy the odds and do not fit the general pattern. As I read Mary Ann’s article, I was saddened to read the sad state of marriage in America. Sadly, it’s no different in Australia. When our daughter was at school she was one of few who had parents who were together and had only ever been married to each other. As Mary Ann’s blog mentioned most families had step parents, step sisters, stepbrothers. Listening to many of the … Continue reading →

Two Shopping Tales

Riversled’s post in the forum about shopping sure made me stop and think. The way she kept watching me,I’m sure last weekend one of the people in a large shop thought I was trying to shoplift.I guess it was because I kept glancing around me nervously. The reality was I was trying to buy a Christmas gift for Mick and make sure he didn’t see me. After shopping for family, we’d spilt up to go shopping for each other’s gifts. Knowing he was somewhere in the shopping complex, I was trying to keep an eye out and not get sprung … Continue reading →

Marriage Christmas Traditions

Mick had his turn of looking after me, now it’s my turn to look after him. On Sunday night we went to carols at the beach. Despite the heat of the day and the fact it’s summer here in Australia, that evening turned quite cold and windy. Next thing, Mick’s come down with all the snuffles, aches and pains of flu symptoms. He’s an easy patient to look after though. He’s spent the last few days on medicine and sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. I wish I could sleep like that when I’m sick, but I never can. Thankfully I’m now armed … Continue reading →

Marriage Blog, I Bid You Farewell

An adventure that began two years ago in Pets, then expanded to Marriage a little over a year ago when I first introduced myself here, has reached journey’s end. Today I’m writing to say farewell. Dale should be rejoining you all very shortly. She’s already back to posting in Christian so I imagine it won’t be long before she makes a reappearance here. You’re also going to get a new face to Marriage, but definitely not to Families.com. Mary Ann Romans is one of Families most prolific bloggers. She’s written in different categories over the years and is currently covering … Continue reading →

Weddings: Putting All That Planning Into Perspective

I’m conducting an experiment. Want to be a part of it? I’m trying to figure out how important all that wedding preparation ends up being. I got the idea back when my mom moved in with us earlier this year. I had to clean out the closet in what became her room so she’d have a place to hang her clothes. I ended up finding several wedding-related items. My wedding dress was in there. I knew it was in one of the closets, but if you’d asked me which one I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. I also … Continue reading →

Spouses Behaving Badly

What would you do if your spouse talked and laughed about you behind your back? Or didn’t stick up for you when someone made an unkind remark about them? Or ran to save only him or herself without consideration for your safety when danger loomed? Sadly, my marriage has encountered all of these situations. Behind My Back In our early years, back when we were still dating and not even living together, Wayne had some friends who could be rather lewd and obnoxious. One day when we weren’t getting along very well (which happened more than I care to admit … Continue reading →

Reflections on a Weekend

From Left to Right: Beth Terrell, Chester Campbell, J.B. Thompson, me, Bente Gallagher How was your weekend? Did you and your spouse do anything interesting? Was it the same old routine? Or did you spend a nice, simple weekend together? Wayne and I had sort of had a combo weekend. One the one hand it was sort of just nice and simple. But there was some excitement too. Southern Festival of Books This past weekend was the Southern Festival of Books, which is put on by Humanities Tennessee. It draws over 200 authors from around the U.S. who participate in … Continue reading →

The Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed Game

When Wayne and I took our cruise, one of the activities was the Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed game. Three lucky couples got to play. (The rest of us in the audience got to play along in our seats.) Picking Couples The first to be chosen were the newlyweds. They looked for the most recently married couple on the ship. Of those in the audience to pick from, it came down to two who were married the weekend before the ship set sail. Since they were both married on the same day, it then came down to the hour they were married. … Continue reading →

The Cruise, My Marriage, and a Taste of the Amazing Race

One of the unexpected things Wayne and I got to do on our Alaskan cruise was play a game that gave us a taste of how we’d do on the Amazing Race. We fared about as I expected, but we also did a little bit better than I expected. Boat Activities Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea. (For those of you who haven’t taken a cruise before, that means it’s just you and the boat out on the open water. You don’t stop at any ports.) The first cruise we took (a short one … Continue reading →