For the first time in more than one hundred years, the number of young adults (age twenty-five to thirty-four) who have never married has surpassed those who are. Of course, many of the unmarrieds are living with a partner without ceremony or license. The past taboo against that, at least for them, is ancient history. … Continue reading Why Marry?
Category: Generally Speaking
Does Love Trump Privacy?
When our youngest child grew up and moved away, I claimed her bedroom and fashioned a space all my own. It was quite small, on the second story of our home with leafy tree branches almost touching the windows, a nest of sorts. Sometimes my husband came and stood at the threshold to ask me … Continue reading Does Love Trump Privacy?
A Delicate Balance
Is it heresy to suggest that friends are often easier to be with than family? On a recent evening, I once again watched the movie version of the Edward Albee Pulitzer Prize Drama, “A Delicate Balance,” which was introduced on Broadway in 1966, yet seems in no way dated. I was drawn in by Albee’s … Continue reading A Delicate Balance
The Second Question
I talk to people in elevators. Even unfamiliar faces open to a smile with a passing comment on the weather and a “How are you?” Almost invariably the answer is “Fine.” And in moments we part, wishing each other well. A graceful verbal pas de deux. But this story can take unexpected turns. Seated in … Continue reading The Second Question
An Unquiet Mind
Can simply reading another’s personal history significantly impact our own? Kay Redfield Jamison’s book An Unquiet Mind was given to me by a friend when I confided that a member of my extended family was exhibiting extreme behaviors. I’d begun to wonder whether I was witnessing the normal range of craziness that accompanies the breakup … Continue reading An Unquiet Mind