“How can I explain this to my folks?” my young friend asked. Two months earlier her husband has disclosed his infidelity, and she had found shelter and solace with her parents. Now after that separation, she'd decided to return to her own home. Since leaving, she and her husband had gained important insights in counseling … Continue reading No Need To Explain
Category: Relationship Dynamics
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
Talking Things Over
I’m trying to make a difficult decision, lying awake for hours at night. But as I share my concern with close friends, some calm begins to return. Long ago this became my way of coping when troubles arose, but it calls for a measure of self-disclosure, a sharing of vulnerabilities, which I know is hard … Continue reading Talking Things Over
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