Opinion

I wrote to you months ago about how those of us who have navigated a successfully long marriage can help all the newlyweds succeed, and you gave some great advice. I wanted to let you know of something that happened just a few days ago that reinforced the soundness of what you wrote. My wife and I went to a harvest festival at a farmer's museum and saw young couples on dates holding hands and old couples doing the same. We saw young families who were having so much fun just running around, going on the carousel, taking the hayride, working together on children's projects, taking in live performances and interacting with the farm animals. I loved seeing the extended families interacting with one another, three generations having fun together. With everyone being together without the distractions of social media, electronic games, laptops, etc., one could just feel in the air the tight bonds we have for our relationships. I'm sure that some will leave the museum and return to unhealthy situations, but for those few hours, it just felt so right. You were wise when you wrote that 'if your relationship is planted in nature with lots of communication, books and mutual respect, that relationship will blossom into a beautiful one.' I saw it firsthand just a few days ago. -- Longing to Help It is a beautiful gift to be able to take in a moment and savor all of its goodness. If, each day, we notice the good things around us, we will start to get more of those good things. What we appreciate appreciates. Yes, getting off of social media or any form of screens for a while is always a great thing and can bring more harmony to life. Thank you for writing.

I am a mom of three adult children. The circumstances that I am sharing are regarding my son and his new relationship. He is 27 and in love for the first time in his life. (Yay!) It has been wonderful to witness his newfound happiness. His now fiancee and I have really bonded and -- I had thought -- built a fun relationship. She has four children from previous relationships, ranging in age from 10 to 17. About six weeks ago, she started to write me emails regarding statements that I or other family members had made that she thought were insults. They were comments simply made in jest and were certainly not meant to be hurtful. She sent me a very extensive email outlining multiple conversations over a period of three months. This email was so difficult for me to read that it took me over three hours to get through it!

I- Sportsman..............