marriage

papillon214 by valérie kuki 13637978174_2999e0a3f0_o.jpg

Of Gifts, Witnessing and Time Immemorial …

Each of our daughters has provided me a unique gift with the presence of their lives in mine. Our eldest, a twenty-six year old senior law student exemplifies the epitome of loyalty.

That she chose to move back home and resume living in her old room while attending

law school touched me greatly. It gave me the invaluable

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Wisdom Cards - Affirmations - Louise Hay- by JCT(Loves)Streisand*-3317906894_f8a25b45b0_o.jpg

Of Marriage, Freedom, and A First Pregnancy …

by JCT(Loves)Streisand*   My first pregnancy occurred when I was twenty-seven. It was planned. A young minister’s wife had said, after hearing my lament the emptiness I was feeling then in the fourth year of my marriage, “You need a child.” This was probably an easy response for her to make in that at twenty-eight

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Lotus Flower-IMG_8651-1-2-1-800--by Bahman Farzad

Of The Good Daughter, Marriage and A Different Path …

When I think back on my late teens and early twenties–I met my now husband when I was seventeen years old–I am amazed that I married, that he wanted me and that we have remained together for thirty-two years.vWe’ve known each other thirty-six.

I tried committing suicide, my second attempt, three months after meeting my husband, then boyfriend. We met in August of 1978, my first week as a college freshman. He was a junior, practically 4.0 student, majoring in Chemistry and with aspirations

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"Admiration"

Of Mothers, Admiration, and Forfeited Goals …

Despite the difficulties I had with my mother I admired much about her. That I admired so much about a woman who could be abusive speaks to the craziness of our relationship and my own struggles.

Yet and still my mother was a hard worker.

Whatever she set her mind to achieve, she remained committed until she had ascertained the goal.

As for not gaining the goal, I cannot remember anything that she set out to do and she later admitted not having accomplished.

This is weird to think about, because there are things in my life that I set out to gain, but for whatever reason have not attained, forfeited them.

Somewhere during the first five years of my marriage I

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Of History Lessons, The Pursuit of Happiness and Choice …

Assisting our eight grader with her American History lessons has called me to revisit the United States’ Declaration of the Independence, of which the second paragraph states, “ … We hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. …”

However well-meaning these men were in seeking freedom and independence from Great Britain, Parliament and King George III, their clarity and self-reflection on the truth of their words leaves much confusion in light of our nation’s history.

Besides being totally opposed to freedom for women and peoples of color, never mind the Native Americans from whom they usurped the land we now call the United States of America, these men, our founding fathers crafted this document, the basis for our government with a certain

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Of Riding Ellipticals, Counting Minutes, and The Challenge of Parenting …

Like the teacher in my psychology program who said that the hardest thing about parenting was the time required, I find that I never have enough.

Mothering three daughters, seeing to my husband, or rather attending our marriage, along with my work as a psychotherapist, and writing novels proves daunting.

I count minutes in much the same way that I count calories.

Frustration continually arises as I reprimand myself for lack of efficiency.

“I’m working as hard as I can,” I say to myself.


But am I working smarter?

I do not know.

Personal experience has

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Of Life, Revelations, and Our Differences That Bind …

Not a day has passed during the three weeks since posting my last blog that I have not felt guilty for failing to hold to my schedule of blogging.

It is a promise I give to myself, and a responsibility I maintain as a published writer.

The nagging feeling that has haunted me now abates as I write this post.

But what occurs when life happens and disrupts our goals and the tasks we have set our energies to?

What do we do when

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