Rut Alert! Rut Alert!

It just dawned on me that I always dress up for doctors appointments, but I’ll throw on any old thing to hang out with my husband. I’ve been making a concerted effort to get dolled up more often. I love the glint in Jim’s eyes when I wear something that hugs my curves or shows off my legs. It’s a nice break for him and it boosts my confidence to see that I still turn him on...

Who do you want to marry you?

I know, I know… the perfect person who loves you dearly.  Duh.  I mean, who would you like to officiate at your ceremony? As marriage becomes increasingly secularized, a growing number of couples are turning to their friends and family to perform the ceremony.  I have been to a couple of weddings that have gone that route and I have heard of plenty more. When Peter and I got...

We all do the ‘I do’

You know the feeling.  It’s early spring and invitations begin to pile up on your junk table.   Wedding season has officially opened!  Weekends quickly get booked and wallets are squeezed to accommodate hotel rooms, gifts and gas.  In order to manage the stress of conjugal celebration, I have made a conscious effort to like weddings.  I am fascinated to see how each couple...

Thoughtful marriage

Inevitably, when you write about marriage on a continuous basis, you are going to begin to solidify your matrimony worldview.  When I got married four years ago, I wasn’t completely sure why I was doing it.  I spent time before the wedding reading up on the history of the institution and how it has progressed into the modern era.  When Peter and I exchanged our vows,  I still...

Thank you Lifetime movies for ladies

I like watching TV on demand when I’m cleaning my home. It distracts me enough that I don’t feel the pain of dusting and vacuuming (who am I kidding, Jim does all the vacuuming). Anyhow, because I’m cheap, I play only what is free on Comcast. This time, I watched a silly Lifetime movie called I Me Wed. It was definitely goofy and a bit over-the-top, with gaping holes...

A thoughtful definition of marriage

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJvSzkVfRg&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

What’s tradition worth to you?

I recently sat down to chat with my friend, Pamela Ferdinand, who is co-author of the book, Three Wishes: Our True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood. Pam and I first met in New York at our mutual publisher’s offices last year and we hit it off right away. I was really fascinated to hear her thoughts on marriage as the...

From philosophytalk.org: What is a wife?...

A scholarly, academic look at the subject of wifeliness. A fabulous interview on philosphytalk.org. From their website: “The concept of a wife has been embedded in cultures, religious practices, social customs and economic patterns of wildly different sorts. Is there a core concept of what it is to be a wife? Is it a good concept, or one that deserves to be thrown on the trash...

O ye, of little faith…

Marriage, as we all know, is traditionally tied in with religion.  It just is.  No way around it.  For years, a stubborn few of us have been trying to extract the institution from the Book. I have been to countless outdoor weddings, mine included where there was the suggestion of faith but not an overt declaration of religious commitment.  What are we doing?  What am I doing? ...

And now for something academic…

Stephanie Coontz, who wrote the wonderful book, “Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage,”  breaks it down in the New York Times (Feb. 21, 2010). Today, more men than women report feeling work-family conflict, suggesting that men are internalizing an identity based on their ability to nurture, not just earn money. Conversely, most women now say that having a husband who...