Three years ago, on a beautiful February day, my husband, son, and I hiked Kennesaw Mountain with some friends. A few minutes after arriving home I started feeling very sick. I had had Crohn’s disease for almost seven years but it had never been as severe as it became after that day. Three hospitalizations, five […]
The Very Thought of You
It seems to be a generally accepted fate that people who fell in love will fall out of it and that romance within long-term relationships or marriage is bound to die. The usual advice to try to prevent this goes something like: try to make time for each other. Set monthly/weekly date nights. And certainly, […]
So What if We’re Not Biologically Monogamous?
The fact that 38 million married people are registered on the recently hacked cheating website, Ashley Madison, has come as a shock to many, but not necessarily a real disappointment. There have been plenty of recent articles claiming the situation a mere natural consequence of an unnatural expectation. They point to evidence that humans are probably not biologically […]
When The Love Letters Stop
On our bathroom counter there is an old sparkling grape juice bottle decorated with ribbons. It was the bottle my husband (then boyfriend) brought when he took me on a romantic date to the rooftop of our college dining hall. Later, he decorated the bottle for me to keep as a memento. Looking at it today, […]
Only Sexy People Have Sex?
In my latest post I said that the message “every girl is beautiful” can be damaging and confusing when by “beautiful” we mean “physically attractive.” I concluded that many of us insist on this message because we think physical attractiveness is absolutely necessary. We fear that physical attractiveness defines our worth. But I think that begs the question: why are we so afraid […]
Because Good People Cheat Too
My husband and I avoid hanging out one on one with people of the opposite sex who aren’t family members. Yes — I know that sounds really weird. We have other “rules” in our marriage (e.g. no phones at the dinner table), but those kinds of rules are socially accepted or even praised. Rules that […]
