How to Get Your Marriage in Better Shape

You’ve heard the old adage ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away,’ but how about,’a compliment a day keeps divorce away.’ Okay, maybe that’s a tad simplistic but the general principle, of making a habit each day of complimenting your spouse for something they have done or for some quality you love about them, is sound. E.g. I might say to Mick,‘I really appreciate the way you support me and come to events where I’m singing even though sometimes it’s boring.’ At the supermarket the other day a woman packing the bag jokingly said to me, ‘That’s for Muscles … Continue reading

How Many Hours Are You Truly Working?

When I first decided that I wanted to work from home so I could stay home with our children when we had them (that still hasn’t happened, actually) I decided to become a medical transcriptionist (MT) because that was what I read about in an ad in the newspaper one Sunday. Not really the best reason for choosing a career path, but at the time, it made sense to me. I quit my day job and went to school full-time so I could graduate quickly and start working right away as an MT. My husband was very impressed with my … Continue reading

Prison Marriages

I had lost touch with an old friend and recently ran into her. She had married a man whom she had met through mutual friends while he was incarcerated, and had this story to tell. Unfortunately, her story is all too common. A mutual friend of theirs thought that it might be nice for them to start writing each other. Tentatively she sent him a letter, not expecting to get a reply. The letter introduced herself and read that their friend had thought it would be nice for her to hook up with him as a pen pal. She told … Continue reading