How to respond to religious LGBT condemnation
We’ve been dealing with some pretty intense levels of religious LGBT condemnation from my fiancee’s family. We have received many emails, phone calls, and letters asking us to give up our “sinful ways.” In the hope that it may help others find words, I thought I would share our responses here.
Modern nomadic family “world schooling” their way through Turkey
We’ve been wedding photographers for almost six years. In January we decided we need to change our lives… drastically. So we sold everything we own, moved out of house, my photography studio, Leah’s meditation center, and pulled Jonah out of preschool.
How a Roomba saved my marriage
Twenty minutes later I hear him running the vacuum for the 4th time in 4 days and I wonder just how much strain this is putting on our marriage. I “spontaneously” tidy up the bathroom and hope for the best. Enter the Roomba…
What living in a different city from my fiancé taught me about loving him, my home, and myself
I tried to avoid filing this arrangement under the “long-distance relationship” category, a title that felt overly indulgent in our situation. Yet there were still valuable lessons for us in this place of semi-separation and changes were made that I now treasure.
Help! My parents want to move near me. What do I do?
How do I tell my parents that having them live that close is stepping on my opportunities for growth and freedom as an adult? What is the best way to explain that living near my parents has to be as much my choice as theirs?
I’m starting to loathe Mother’s Day
I’ve started becoming a recluse on Mother’s Day weekend. I’m of an age where it’s assumed I am a mother and am generally given a cheery “Happy Mother’s Day” by every retail clerk with whom I come into contact (yes, even though there are no children with me). The issue is that I am not and I, in my over-abundant need to be truthful, feel uncomfortable allowing it to slide with a simple “thank you,” but don’t really want to break into tears and shout that I don’t deserve this particular salutation.
Am I the only consciousness among the flapping meat sacks? The Escalating Volume of Existential Terror
Sometimes, my partner Zack and I do not understand each other. This makes sense, given the complexity and inexact nature of language; I would go so far as to say it is part of The Human Condition. But there’s a particular misunderstanding that we have that I have also seen other people have. I call it “The Escalating Volume of Existential Terror.”
My family is changing, I don’t know what to do about it, and that’s okay
Through single motherhood, relocation from the continent back to Hawaii, custody battles, family drama, building a new relationship and creating our family, job changes, graduate school, and career readjustments, I’ve had very few moments in which I’ve questioned what or how I was doing as a parent. Parenthood has taught me not to expect the status quo — every day is different. Every day brings a new challenge or change, and every day you stretch a little bit more to be the parent you need to be.