Tropical Topical

Hi Robyn! I dearly hope your move was a HUGE success! I’m writing from a small wood cabin nestled on a hot, hot island. I have bug bites aplenty and a gecko just pooped on my bakini bottoms. I will leave you with this question to ponder. If you and Jim could move to a tropical island, would you? The couple who owns the cabin where we are staying has lived here for 40 years. ...

Vacation a Go Go!

The rain outside is unending and Accuweather is proclaiming that a “hurricane-like” storm will be hitting the Northeast this weekend.  You can grab your shovels, stockpile beans, and burn your ex’s photos for fuel, or…you can go the Caribbean.  By the time you click on your horoscope this morning, Peter and I will be mid-flight to the Virgin Islands.  We deserve this.  Are...

Is the success of marriage a science?

Just a quick note today – I’m in the midst of packing up our apartment as we’re moving in two days. We’re only moving two blocks north, but that doesn’t make things any easier. Packing is packing is packing and I’m really behind. So, with no further ado – I ask you – if you could plug your statistics and that of your partner into a computer and you could be...

Mommies, and babies, and bellies! Oh My...

The theme of this past weekend was babies, babies and more babies.  I boarded my preferred discount bus, jammed my body into a plush, electric blue seat and headed south to the fertile crescent, otherwise known as the DC Metro area.  Waiting for me there was my pregnant sister and my friend’s baby shower.  I don’t know anything about babies.  When I touched my...

Being single over 50 means WHAT?!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjuEdbRXczg]

Waxing the Night Away…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2CeXf3ih7k&hl=en&fs=1]

Do most women want ‘to put a ring on it?...

So this whole name game discussion – do we keep our last name when we get married or not – has me thinking about perceptions we might have of each other based on marital status. ‘Single’ and ‘married’ are defining tags for women and they each carry such weight. When I typed those words, images popped into my brain for each, most based on pop culture rather than...

Say My Name!

Just as my gut told me to get married, it also told me to keep my name.  When a good friend of mine was getting married, I asked her if she was going to change her name.  She said, “I like my name.  Why would I change it?”  Fair point.  But tradition, with its unending stockpiles of guilt, weighs heavily in my mind ALL the time.  So, while I didn’t take my...

A rose by any other surname did not smel...

One of the biggest battles I had when I got married was whether I’d retain my last name or take my husband’s. And like many of the battles I fought when we got engaged, this one was almost entirely in my head. While Jim said it would be nice if we had the same last name, he didn’t pressure me. But I still resented that it fell only on my shoulders to choose if I would retain my...

My wedding day was not the best day of m...

I never wanted to get married. Never fantasized about it as a girl. Never daydreamed about it as a single, dating woman. I always hoped I’d find a partner with whom I’d share adventures, but the idea of marriage seemed antiquated. I didn’t relish the idea of wearing the label “wife” or “Mrs.” for the rest of my life. And yet, on August 3 (knock wood), I’ll be celebrating...