Falling in love is a powerful thing. You may be feeling things you have never felt before and are certain you will never feel again. At any age, this is an exciting phase of a relationship. So what happens when you are so swept up in this emotion that you determine it is time to make things official and get married? Well, at a certain age, this step makes perfect sense. You are able to contemplate the weightiness of all the new aspects of your future, like money, kids, and careers. You make a plan that incorporates the things that are important to you both. No matter your age, at…

— This morning I was listening to a radio interview. It seemed to be glorifying the work of a modern war reporter. She was talking about all sorts of war zones, almost like memorable restaurants. Then, I got it. We glorify and obsess about the war in our daily media, movies, and books. I fall for it every time; I love reading and watching it. What is our endless fascination with this stuff? Our need for high drama, heroes, and evil villains—our need to escape from boring normalcy, endless lives of quiet desperation. I read lots of history, it’s almost all about wars, endless cruelty, man’s inhumanity to man—the screaming…

When to start eating: Emma Kapotes/Rd.com, iStock/Naddiya If you’re seated at a table with eight or fewer guests, wait until everyone is served and for the hostess to begin eating before you dig in. At a long banquet table, it’s OK to start when several people are seated and served. These are little etiquette rules to follow when you’re a guest in someone’s house. What to keep off the table: Emma Kapotes/Rd.com, iStock/Naddiya All items not having to do with food (and decoration) should remain off the table: keys, clutch bags, sunglasses, and especially phones. When to text: Emma Kapotes/Rd.com, iStock/Naddiya “If you’re in a situation where you’d excuse yourself to go…

As much as we desire to be connected to others—good friendships, a wonderful romantic relationship, close family members—this connection always comes at a cost. We get frustrated by other people. You know it’s true. You might be really good friends with someone, but then they get angry at you for some reason, or they behave without consideration, and all of a sudden, your mood is much darker. You’re not happy with them, maybe they’re not happy with you. Things can go sour very quickly. This is such a difficult problem that you could devote entire books to ways of working out these kinds of conflicts and frustrations. But I have…

By Jami Ingledue My husband and I thought we had this whole equal marriage thing figured out. We are a modern couple, after all. He is perfectly capable of cooking and cleaning. I know how to use a drill and do yard work. There were times I worked full time and he took care of the house, and there were times when he worked more and I picked up more of the load. Equality. An egalitarian partnership. Occasionally we had to work some things out, but overall: no problem. And then we had kids. It’s impossible to describe just how much the workload increases when the kids come along. But…

by Amina H. Imagine going through life feeling like a foreigner among your people. Imagine being called, “weird, abnormal, strange.” Imagine locking yourself in your room crying because you feel like nobody understands you. Imagine hating yourself because desperately want to change and conform, yet you just can’t…. A lot of people identify that as how it feels like to be a teenager. They understand the period will pass and things would be fine. Unless you grow up in a society where conforming is the rule of the game, and you live your life in line with what people expect of you. So when you grow up differently, you hear…

My grandfather was a piano tuner, so all of his kids got piano lessons from infancy. By 4 years old, my dad was playing Mozart’s scales in the dark. He gave his first concert at 6 and composed his first piece of music at 8. By the time he was 16, he was being scouted for professional gigs, but my grandparents insisted he finishes his education. Two months out of high school, he signed on with Louis Armstrong and never looked back, despite the fact he wasn’t allowed to eat in or sleep at most of the establishments he played, thanks to segregation. Over the course of 60 years, he…

When James pulled in the drive from work his mind was on a cold beer, turning off his brain, and watching sports. His wife and kids could wait. Once he’d chilled, he’d figure out how to negotiate with his wife and kids. Coming up the walk, he hears the sound of angry yelling between the kids and their mom. He wanted to turn around and leave. He was feeling overwhelmed. For most men, the response of withdrawing into themselves or becoming aggressive is a habit they learned in their childhood family conflicts. Men are learning to help their families’ tough emotions as he learns how to handle their own. As…