I know that there are more of you out there who want to talk about this, but who in their right mind would, when the result is social ostracization? Last week, two editorial bastions of progressive, mostly middle-aged-male thinking on either side of the Atlantic—London’s New Statesman and New York’s New Republic—apparently decided it was […]
This originally appeared on The Daily Life. Republished here with permission. For some couples, “date night” is filled with too much pressure to have fun. You know when you start off being crazily into each other, but after a while the relationship starts to circle the drain? Your times together feel as stilted as an […]
There is no way to compromise on an issue like this. As much as the census may claim that American families have one point something children per household, you can’t have half a baby. I’m 44, and I bled again this month at exactly 27 days—the calendar of my body, clockwork of my reproductive system, […]
I choose to honor my mother’s terrible experience with marriage and motherhood by not repeating it. Every year, when my mother sends a birthday card to my partner, Z, she signs it “Mrs. Ryan.” Once I complained about her coldness, when I called from our home in Berlin to check in with her. “It was […]
Rachel Kramer Bussel responds to the blogger who blames other women for her husband’s roving eye. Recently, blogger Lauren of Apples and Band-Aids caused an uproar among bloggers when she wrote a post claiming that racy social media images by sexy female strangers were a threat to her marriage. To wit: When your bare shoulders […]
This originally appeared on The Daily Life. Republished here with permission. “Best friend familiarity” is not sexy. Praise be to the Internet, for it has allowed us to meet our insatiable appetites for Someecard-style “truisms.” “Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life,” is popular. “Happiest in love are those who […]
This originally appeared on Mamamia. Republished here with permission. Sometimes I look at my wedding photo and I don’t recognize the bride smiling back at me. And I suspect she wouldn’t recognize me either. She’s 34. I’m 42. That woman in the photo? She gets eight hours of sleep per night. I average five. She […]
Becoming your mother is often unavoidable. But is it always a bad thing? Something terrible happened this year right before my 38th birthday: I became my mother. I was just standing in my kitchen cutting up a cantaloupe. Isn’t this something women face in their 50’s? Or after they have their own kids? I swore […]
This originally appeared on Mamamia. Republished here with permission. In a cruel twist of fate, just as my contract with Harper Collins to write my latest book on dating and relationships was finalized, so too was I finalizing the end of what had been an incredibly important partnership with a man I deeply loved. Although I had […]
This originally appeared on The Daily Life. Republished here with permission. Last night my partner’s family emailed me to see if we were coming to a birthday event. “Why are they emailing me?” I asked. “Because you’ll remember and get organized, whereas they know I’ll just forget,” he said. It’s not just birthdays—I’m the go-to […]
