I’m writing this today for all the parents out there who have lost beloved family members to life and its winding, sometimes dark, path. For my best friend, whose two sons walked away from their mother. For all the mothers and fathers whose children were lost to drugs or alcohol, and may still be fighting to reclaim their loved ones. For all those who don’t even know why they keep their silence, and all those too stubborn to break it. For all the sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters who have walked away from family members without truly thinking about what they’ve truly left in their absence. For they did not…

I was 24 when my wife Mel and I had our first child 10 years ago. Tristan was 2 weeks early because Mel developed preeclampsia. Her feet, hands, face — all of it — swelled up. At the time, I didn’t really know what preeclampsia was; I didn’t realize what it could do if left unchecked, and I certainly didn’t realize that it could cause doctors to cut into my wife’s stomach and take the baby out. In fact, I didn’t know that was even an option. I went into the whole delivery wrapped innocently in a white medical suit, mask, hat, and booties. Mel, on the other hand, was…

You made the decision to adopt and joyfully welcomed a child into your home. But now you find yourself struggling to feel the same love for them that you do for your biological children. You wonder, “Will I ever love them the same?” Tears spilled over the bottom of Maria’s eyes like a breached dam. As they streamed down her cheeks, she sniffled. Through broken words, she admitted something she had not been able to vocalize until that point: “I don’t feel love for my adopted son, the way I do for my biological kids! I wish I did… but I don’t.” She had been pushed. And pushed, and pushed, and…

“Come here, give me a hug!” What an innocent statement, but one wrought with the weighty and silent burden of another person’s “need.” I’ve never been a super touchy-feely person outside of my personal intimate relationships. For the most part, I’m quite introverted in my social needs, and I have a distinct personal bubble. Let’s just say – I hated feeling like a hug, kiss, or even an “I love you” was demanded of me to validate someone else. Why did I have to give when I didn’t want to? Even at the ripe ol’ age of 13 when I told my first boyfriend “I love you” I was downright…

What happens to a couple’s relationship after they have a baby? Philip Cowan, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Institute of Human Development at the University of California at Berkeley, and his wife, Carolyn Pape Cowan, Ph.D., adjunct professor of psychology at Berkeley, have been studying this question since 1975, when they saw their own marriage begin to falter after having children. That’s the year they decided to start the Becoming a Family Project, tracking couples from pregnancy to when their children started kindergarten. In 1990 they began the Schoolchildren and Their Families Project, following the first of several groups of parents whose kids were entering kindergarten. The…

Allison was a beautiful ray of sunshine in my life. The life of an Army wife can get lonely at times – moving around so much, searching for new friends, and trying to make a strange house and new town feel like home. A mil-spouse herself, Allison knew the struggle, and reached out to my husband the very first weekend we moved a few houses down from her in Montgomery, Alabama. She invited us on a blind friend date with her and her husband, Justin. It wasn’t long into our first dinner together that I knew we hit the friend and neighbor jackpot. It was easy to be drawn to…