Family

When my son Richard was six, a trusted uncle molested him, whispering, “This is our secret.” The abuse continued for years. Young children’s brains spend long stretches in theta waves – a dreamy state where adult messages slide in unfiltered, making warnings like “Never tell” burrow deep…

When I held my first newborn, I whispered, “All I want is for you to be happy.” It felt like the most generous wish I could make – no demands about who he should become, no rigid life plan to follow. Just happiness. Decades later, I realized that was a much bigger expectation…

Dealing with complicated pet loss grief is very challenging to a pet lover. Have you ever experienced the loss of a pet that ran away? Did this pet ever come home? Are you suffering from the pain of not knowing what happened to them?

Let’s talk about one of the most common obstacles that stop us from moving on after divorce, especially after a long-term marriage. Fairness. Unfairness. The feeling like we’re ripped off after all the sacrifices we made during our years…

Let’s just say it: This isn’t how you thought it would be. You didn’t imagine your child avoiding your calls. You didn’t picture a strained holiday dinner, or worse, an empty seat. You didn’t expect silence, tension, or unspoken resentments. And yet – here you are…

It’s a well-known fact that I’m a big proponent of “seconds.” All sorts of seconds, from second helpings (that’s where the “big” comes from) to second chances. So preparing for a second honeymoon with my second husband should have been…

A crazy, somewhat sad thing began to happen as my friends reached their post-parenting, pre-retirement years. Many began to build or buy second homes in fun locations with the idea that they’d retire in a destination where adult children and grandchildren would love to visit…

Some years ago, when my mother flew alone across Canada to visit with me, I was desperate to find a way to rekindle our former deep emotional connection. Since she had remarried several years earlier, I felt that I had lost some of our precious bond…

What is the key to a meaningful relationship? Not just the one you have with your husband, lover, or partner, but any relationship. As we get older, our life journey becomes shorter and time becomes more precious. The answer…

In this blog series, we’ve covered many ways to help adult children financially, including education, childcare, housing, and retirement. In this final post of the series, we’ll cover some other areas that can also be used to help: investment accounts, life insurance and annuities, real estate…