The Best Thing I Ever Did for My Marriage: 50 Real Life Stories

50 Real Life Stories Nancy Cobb, Connie Grigsby. like living dangerously that day, for he continued to run in my direction. His owner went ballistic. “Roger, when.
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It was very, very cold and I must've gotten a cold every other month during the winter. I got really homesick that first year. So we work well together. And try not to stay angry over little things. I would definitely would do it again. Save Big on Valentine's Day Gifts. Do you want to know the secret to a long-lasting marriage? Interested in Valentine's Day? Courtesy of Sammy and Macie Waller. Courtesy of Frank and Thelma Hoffman. Courtesy of James and Virginia Wilson. Courtesy of John and Betty Mattocks.

The Divorce Bucket List: 50 Things to Do When Your Marriage Ends | CafeMom

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It leads you to utter words like, "If you loved me you would have put the jumper cables back in my car so that when I get stuck in a bad neighborhood with a dead battery I could save myself," which, in my household, generally results in a reply like "When do you ever drive in bad neighborhoods?

It is the small annoyances that, if left unaddressed, do us in. For a happier marriage, address them right away and keep it simple. Sometimes the best way to address a problem is to just walk away from it -- as in seriously let it go. Not every slight must be addressed.

Know that not every insult is intended. Practice letting go as much as you can.


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Bite your tongue until the tip bleeds. And once in a while, remind yourself of why you married this person. Focus on those reasons and let stuff pass without mention. The trick to successful silence, however, is that you really let the problem pass. If you stay silent and still harbor bad thoughts, well, that's where ulcers come from. As the Beatles told us, "Let It Be. Relationships aren't flat-lined; that's death, actually. Life has ups and downs, peaks and valleys.

The Divorce Bucket List: 50 Things to Do When Your Marriage Ends

We all go through periods where the mere thought of life without our partners can bring tears to our eyes and then a week later we can't stand the sound of their breathing next to us. We've all been there. The trick is knowing that you won't stay in either place forever. Truth is, in a marriage, you spend most of your time in an emotional middle ground.

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It's not songbirds chirping, nor is it considering which poison in his pasta will cause the most painful demise. This middle ground isn't the couple who sit in the restaurant across from one another without conversing. Those people have actually flat-lined and just don't know it yet. No, the middle ground is when months meld into years and you know what the reaction will be before you say something. It's when the book you finished last night just migrates automatically to the nightstand on his side and he tells you about the recorded "Modern Family" episode you slept through.

It's the every day ebb and flow without the waves. We tend to take advantage of those we love the most -- probably because we know they love us and we can get away with it.

7 Things My Divorce Taught Me About Marriage

It's the old kick-the-cat syndrome. You have a bad day at the office and come home and take it out on your mate. A much healthier pattern is to start out each day by asking yourself, "What can I do today to make my partner happy? Doesn't it make more sense to put your best face on for someone you love? Look for ways to say "yes. That sometimes means sitting through endlessly long ball games, putting on a tie, watching a horror movie with your eyes closed, and traveling around old Civil War battleground sites when you really wanted to be vacationing on a beach in Hawaii.

It seemed that my ex couldn't leave without first destroying my self-esteem. It's not an overstatement to say he also took what was left of my future hopes and dreams when we divorced. In January , it dawned on me that my life could no longer be discussed in "we" or "us" terms.

My life was once again mine. I was now a very single parent.

My sons, young adults at the time, had lost the father they thought they knew. With fierce determination, we rebuilt our family life and forged a path to the future.


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We left old traditions behind and created new ones. Those boys were and are a fortress of love in my life. In time, we moved on from the pain of the divorce. We became a solid, happy threesome. A photo of Linda and her two sons in To get my mind off things, I began the lengthy process of preparing for a yearlong European teacher exchange. That absorbed my professional attention. Dating was clearly out of the question at this point. I could barely trust myself. How could I even begin to trust another man?

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Returning from my teacher exchange, I was standing in the doorway of the new millennium and the dawn of another new beginning. Believe me, searching out a personal life after divorce is an odd situation to find yourself in. I felt like I was part goofy year-old school girl and part year-old-woman; a split personality with no experience in the dating scene.