A journalist and author's musings on love, marriage, divorce and life
Posted in Cohabitation, Dating, Expectations, Marriage, Singles, Stereotypes on Nov 26th, 2012
We’re down one big family get-together with a few more to go for 2012, and I’m guessing many 20- and 30-somethings were asked something along the lines of this: “So, are you still single?” With more singles than ever, a 50 percent or so divorce rate, a tenfold increase in cohabitation and a growing number […]
Posted in Cohabitation, Divorce, Expectations, Midlife, Singles on Oct 23rd, 2012
“Do you think you’d still be married if all the bad stuff hadn’t happened?” a friend asked me recently. “Uh, I don’t know,” I answered after a few minutes. It’s true, I don’t really know. I’d like to believe that in what would be 14 years into our marriage, we still would be. I certainly thought […]
Posted in Dating, Expectations, Infidelity, Men, Mothers, Singles, Women on Aug 21st, 2012
We all talk about how “hard” relationships are, and I’ll agree — they can be. But it’s interesting how we often make relationships hard because we don’t see how our own behaviors create dysfunction. I am observing a relatively new romance. One partner has a lot of long-time friends of the opposite sex, the other […]
Posted in Dating, Expectations, Men, Sex, Singles, Stereotypes on Aug 7th, 2012
All parents can be embarrassing, but perhaps none more of late than Ike Lochte, mother of Olympian swimmer Ryan Lochte. Poor Ike set off a media firestorm last week when, while trying to explain that her 28-year-old son is too busy to have a girlfriend, said that he “goes out on one-night stands.” Well, that’s […]
Posted in Expectations, Marriage, Singles on Mar 26th, 2012
I’m back to thinking about marriage again. I know; it’s like I have a one-track mind but in doing research for The New I Do, I pretty much have to (nice excuse, right?) With all the negative things we hear about marriage — from sexless, loveless marriages to the high rate of infidelity to the […]
Posted in Dating, Expectations, Men, Singles, Women on Feb 13th, 2012
A girlfriend with whom I have been trying to make plans texted me: she’s free to get together Tuesday or Wednesday night. I’m free both nights, too, but then it occurred to me — Tuesday is Valentine’s Day. Even in liberal, open-minded Bay Area, would two women grabbing drinks and dinner together on the most […]
Posted in Aging, Dating, Men, Sex, Singles, Women on Feb 7th, 2012
A few things went through my head while watching the Super Bowl (beside being thankful that my son gave up football — the injuries! the physical abuse! — and thinking that it would be a bit unfair to be married to Gisele Bundchen and win the Super Bowl). In no particular order, Madonna, aging, Valentine’s […]
It’s the era of The Single. New York University sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s new book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, which arrives next week, is getting a lot of buzz. Why? As Klinenberg points out in an article in Fortune magazine (adapted from his book): Only 51% of adults today are […]
Posted in Cohabitation, Dating, Expectations, Family, Marriage, Parenting, Singles on Sep 24th, 2011
I am about to say something that many might consider blasphemous — I don’t think couples should live together. Now, before you cast me as some pro-marriage, uber-conservative who has been reading one too many National Marriage Project (NMP) studies, be assured I am not. At the risk of sounding somewhat Orwellian, let me clarify: […]
