What Kind of Love Do You Have?

“When we stood there getting married, I remember the preacher saying, ‘For better, for worse; in sickness, and in health.”  I was 20 years old and I thought, I wonder what ‘in sickness and in health means.  I thought, he’ll have a stroke in 40 years; I can do that.” – Darnly Motter Many of…

Details

Get Over it in a Hurry

“The reason we got along was that Bill was deaf, and I can’t see – so I couldn’t see what he was doing all those years, and he couldn’t hear what I was saying.”  These words came from Betty as she and her husband Bill celebrated 70 years of marriage earlier this year in Colorado…

Details

What to Watch?

Recently, an article in the Chicago Tribune addressed problems that can occur when couples don’t like to watch the same TV shows.  One person lounges in the living room watching crime shows such as Law and Order and NCIS, while the other holes up downstairs binging on the sports channel.  While an occasional watching of…

Details

It’s Too Late

“It’s too late,” the husband exclaimed!  After a 23 year marriage, his wife had berated him in front of the kids for the last time!  It seemed that whenever they had a disagreement, she would use the argument as an opportunity to prove – that she was the better parent, the better spouse, the better…

Details

The 3 Minute Argument

As I sat in my office yesterday, a couple recounted an argument that they had on Valentine’s Day (Not the best day to argue).  In actuality, they were both attempting to make the day romantic and special, but somehow managed to miscommunicate something that should have been minor and easily cleared up.  But it wasn’t.…

Details

How Do You Resolve Conflict?

You get home from work and once again your spouse has . . . . (fill in the blank).  It could be – left the dirty dishes in the sink, didn’t feed the dog, left the dirty laundry on the floor, or numerous other possibilities.  And with this repeated annoyance – the conflict begins. What…

Details

Is Your Mate Ideal?

When you read that question, what comes to mind?  When we were in high school, many of the girls thought, “Well he must be tall and muscular, have a nice car, and make at least a little money.”  The guys might have said, “She needs to be slim, cute, and have blonde (brunette, red, fill…

Details

Are You Deluded?

“Jealousy is a form of delusion, based on the notion that someone’s gain is somehow our loss.”  As I recently read that quote, I thought, “Hey that’s a great quote.  I can’t believe they thought of that before I did.  Boy, I’ll show them.”  Ok, only kidding on that last thought.  However, what I did…

Details

How Are You Under Pressure?

I remember playing little league baseball in 5th grade.  It was my first year to play organized baseball so I had a lot to learn.  I wasn’t very good at catching and even worse at hitting.  While I learned some valuable lessons that enabled me to play much better as an adult, at this point…

Details