4 mins read One of our favorite lyrics are from an advice-giving song that we discovered many years ago, It says; Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindsides you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday. Everybody Free To Wear Suncreen By Baz Luhrmann This lyric was true to life Tuesday last week. John started the day as he usually would, with a quick work out, followed by breakfast. His friend B ..read more

5 mins read I have been sharing the ten things I learned from the tumultuous start to our relationship. Catch up with the series here. This week’s installment is about how societal roles and expectations can mess with your relationship.  When John and I first started dating, we were both struggling with various life difficulties. We had both just come off long-term relationships that had upended our lives and were both in the process of rebuilding. Restructuring your life is tough. Trying to date while you go through restructuring, will downright test your resolve. One of the most s ..read more

10 mins read The Video took 26 minutes to watch, this ten minute article is half the time and twice as truthful. -Inbox Message Minutes 1-5 Claim The video starts by lauding Dr. Mikovits as “one of the most accomplished scientists of her generation” with “ground-breaking” contributions to Aids research. The interviewer continues to claim that Dr. Mikovits published a “devastating article” that revealed that common use of animal and human fetal tissues were causing disease outbreaks. Fact-check We did a name search of Dr. Mikovits on PubMed, a national database for scientific, scholarly art ..read more

6 mins read This article is part of a series in which I examine the top ten things that I learned during our tumultuous Forming and Storming stage earlier on in our relationship. We all carry some sort of baggage, recognizing what yours is will save your relationship. In this article, I discuss how my childhood experiences may have affected my approach to conflict. What is Baggage? The Answer is Very Freudian I have heard the word “baggage” often used in the relationship context, but I never actually analyzed its meaning. For example, a single parent with three children would be se ..read more

3 mins read On Monday, I shared with you how John’s obsessive quest for COVID-19 news was driving me crazy until I understood why. I am now more receptive to John’s over-sharing, and he is more sensitive to my aversion to pandemic related stories. He is cautious with what he shares with me, only showing me medical developments related to COVID-19. This morning he shared with me a story that stopped me in my tracks. As a Registered Nurse, I think this could be a game-changer in the battle against COVID-19. The story appeared in the New York times Monday, written by an accl ..read more

5 mins read Studies indicate that large scale catastrophes like the one we are experiencing now with the Coronavirus pandemic, have a profound and lasting effect on relationships. Life-threatening events motivate people to take significant action in their close relationships. Perhaps it’s the stress that comes with danger and uncertainty that sparks something primal in us. Or maybe it’s the fear associated with loss that spurs our emotions to higher levels. Whatever it is, it moves us to act in many different ways. So, when a stay-at-home advisory accompanies the said disaster, things c ..read more

4 mins read Last week I discussed how we need to accept our partner’s flaws as an inherent part of them. Catch up on that article here: . As Aristotle once said, the whole (person in this case) is greater than the sum of their parts. I gave an example of how I was willing to accept that John had numerous friends who were girls. But I drew the line on his old flame Regina. This week, I share with you how I finally put an end to Regina’s meddling once and for all. As a tribute to the great Bill Withers who passed away on March 30th, 2020, all the sub-headings in this article are song t ..read more

4 mins read Last week I explained how what attracted me to John ended up being one of his most significant flaws. Read all about it here:. This week I share the second lesson that I learned during our tumultuous storming stage: You don’t get to choose the good bits and leave out the bad. Catch up on the first article in this series here:. Read on for some unique courtship insights. The Lesson Simply put, my lesson was, when you date somebody, you date the sum of the whole person, not just their desirable attributes. It is up to you to decide if their good outweighs their bad. Too ..read more

4 mins read Last week I shared how our relationship went through the forming and storming stages. The forming stage was easy, dating and falling in love is always fun. The storming stage was a disaster. I shared the 10 things I learned while we went through our trials. The first of the 10 was, “Sometimes what attracted you to the person can actually be their biggest flaw.” Catch up on the complete list of lessons here: . To get the complete backstory, check out , , , and . In last week’s story, I gave an example of a guy named Rock. Rock is handsome, talented, idealistic even! But we fou ..read more

4 mins read Last week I talked about my fear of falling in love. We can all identify, read all about it *here. The person I was falling in love with was my childhood crush. Catch up on the story starting with *how we reconnected after decades apart, *the first date, and *my last first kiss. In the interest of full disclosure, that was not my last first kiss (John is the last MAN I have kissed but not the last person, get it?), and neither was it John’s. Follow the blog for all these juicy future revelations. I had never heard of the term Forming and Storming until John mentioned i ..read more