This One Lie is Holding Us Back More Than We Think
It was progress report day, my senior year of high school. After Art, I made my way to my last class, Spanish IV. There, I sat in my usual seat, and laid my books out on my desk. But when our teacher stood up to begin his lecture, a student appeared at the door. “Mr. M, Mr. C wants to see Melissa, if it’s ok.” At this Mr. M nodded. Then looking at me, he leaned his head towards the door as if to say, ‘you may go.’ I got up from my desk. Then the student added, “He wants [...]
Five Important Lessons I’m Learning About Friendship
Have you ever been to a school dance or wedding reception, where the DJ was really good? Where not only did they have a phenomenal playlist, but they also had fantastic transitions from song to song? When this happens, the music literally doesn’t stop, and neither does the dancing. Sometimes, I wish it was like this with friendships. Similar to the way a DJ smoothly changes from one song to the next, I wish our friends would move in and out of our lives just as seamlessly. Ok, truthfully: I wish some friendships would never end. Period. But because people [...]
Common Place Friends: Why Some of Our Friendships Don’t Last
A little over eight years ago, Tony and I left our church. It happens all the time. People leaving their church. A person, couple, or family decides they don’t fit, realizes they aren’t growing spiritually, or they get hurt by the leaders or other congregants, and they leave. Sometimes it’s messy, all the time it’s sad. For Tony and me, it was both. The fact that I’d worked at our church for over seven years, meant it came with its fair share of hurt and messiness. But then add in the fact that we each came to the church as [...]
Six Rules For Fighting Fair In Marriage
Here is the thing they don’t tell you when you get married: some of the rules of your relationship change along the way. Or rather, you and your spouse keep changing so how you handle crisis and times of stress isn’t always the same. Even if your marriage is good, you can hit a rough patch and be completely blindsided. It is kind of like being on a long road trip with each other. Sometimes, you or your spouse can handle getting lost and even losing a tire with complete patience and grace—for an entire stretch of your journey. But [...]
The Unspoken Secret to a Successful Marriage
One of Tony’s favorite things to do is to watch romantic movies with me. And by favorite I mean least favorite. As in, he doesn’t like most movies where the main focus is a love story. He says romantic movies are predictable, cheesy, and always end the same way. Yet even when I completely agree (like when he’s talking about Hallmark Movies), I still love them. There is something about two people learning to love each other that gets me every time. And my favorite part of these movies is when the two people in love do this one thing: [...]
5 Things I’ve Learned About Love & Dating (repost)
This is one of my most read posts. So I thought I’d share it again on this year’s Valentine’s Day Eve. The other night, Tony and I were telling each other about some of the dates we went on in high school. I shared a time I went on a date with a guy even though I knew he wasn’t good for me. And he talked about borrowing his mom’s mini-van to pick up a girl for a dance, which reminded me of my first real date with a boy. He too picked me up in his mom’s mini-van. We [...]
