Category: Marriage
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Travelling Solo In Middle Age: Why It’s A No-Brainer
But travel doesn’t rate highly on my husband’s agenda. A Cancerian with an abject terror of finding himself more than five kilometres from our suburb – which he likes to refer to as “the safety zone” – I realised that the only way to give him a gentle nudge back into the outside world was…
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Wedding Anniversaries? Does Your Partner Still Buy You Flowers?
Mine doesn’t. Bitter, much? Well yes, if I’m completely honest. There are only so many bouquets on Instagram that you can pretend like. And I’ve been forced to accept this sad development (or downturn, which is my preferred term) in our marriage because otherwise I would be a hypocrite. For as my husband reminds me…
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This Is How A Middle-Aged Couple With Anxiety Books A Holiday
There are certain undeniable factors when two people with anxiety get married. 1. There will be a lot of overthinking, and 2) We can talk ourselves out of pretty much anything. Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash Such has been the marital soap opera created by my decision that we go on a proper holiday…
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Anxious, Middle-Aged Couple Seeks Ideas For Perfect Holiday
We’re in the early stages of marital negotiations about a possible holiday towards the end of the year. I’ve won the first round – as in the old man has finally agreed to leave Australia. However, where to go is proving more problematic. I am struggling to find that perfect holiday destination that offers an…
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Are Women Just As Guilty Of Disempowering Men As They Are Of Avoiding The “Emotional LaborR
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash ‘But you enjoy it,’ the old man retorts defensively when I moan about him not chipping in with the organization of social events, the ongoing responsibilities of our adult children, and – dare I mention it – Christmas. You might have read in the news this week about the…
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5 Brilliant TV Series For The Discerning Middle-Aged Couple
The old man and I watch a lot of detective series together. It’s the only genre that hits the sweet spot for both of us. For him, there are car chases, guns, and psychopaths – although, sadly no dragons – and for me, there is typically a decent representation of female characters – albeit, few of…
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3 Reasons Not To Criticize Your Husband’s Cooking
In my experience, men do not take criticism easily – whether it’s constructive or just plain mean – the latter being particularly relevant to the long marriage. Which is why I have had to tread very carefully this week, while the old man had taken up the mantle of domestic slavery in our house, as…
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Who Said Marriage Was Easy?
Mariella Says (in the Relationship section of The Guardian today, in response to a letter about a loveless marriage): “It’s easy to pontificate about tolerance and investment in a relationship and far harder to put it into practice. During times of difficulty it’s imperative we remember why we got hitched in the first place.” Dear…
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Is This Year’s “Bachelor” Helping Us Think Beyond The Stereotypes?
I’ve been sucked into The Bachelor again. No excuse really, other than it’s the perfect wind-down tv that gives me an added connection to NC and something to comment about on Twitter. While this season has some disconcerting constancies about it – that include Osher’s perfect hair, the gaudiness of the mansion and it’s general…
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The Twelve Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Get Married
We go through different phases in our marriage. Sometimes we love each other with the intensity of Jack and Rose in Titanic; sometimes he’s George and I’m Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Normal, right? It didn’t take me long to work out that marriage involves a lot of hard work and luck. There…
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Why Are Men So Obsessed With Sport?
Photo by Morgan David de Lossy on Unsplash The old man is that breed of men that needs to hit a ball at least once a day. He delights in telling anyone who can listen to him (without falling asleep) about his childhood spent in the family garage, throwing ball after ball against its back wall. And while…
Louisa Simmonds 