Category: Life Lessons

I took my Marriage Rules and AI’s advice, put them in a pot, shook them together and asked AI to summarize our joint observations.  When the words came out, I had the UMRF.  I think it’s pretty good.                                   …

The artificial intelligent site I checked out provided the following observations regarding marriage.  They’re matter of fact, built on statistics rather than personal observations.  That doesn’t make them bad, just different. The ones I developed for David, Elizabeth and Michael were “before” marriage guidelines.  AI’s are more encompassing. Align on Core Values Shared beliefs about …

Almost thirty years ago I developed The Marriage Rules for David, Elizabeth and Michael.  The boys had brought home their current girlfriends during the college Christmas break. Michael was a freshman at Michigan State and David was a junior at Spring Arbor. I wrote the following blog about the development of the marriage rules and …

After Ruth died I didn’t have anyone to hold a conversation with.  I was alone. My three kids checked in on me to make sure I was OK.  My friends and sisters did too, but checking in is different than having a meaningful conversation. If you’re engaged in a relationship, it’s normal to discuss the news …

Tomorrow marks another Thanksgiving without several people I love. I chose Ruth and my friends, Jim and Mitch, to be a part of my life. Each one changed me bit by bit. I was born into my parents and cousin, Gene. It was love based upon circumstance. I didn’t have a say in the matter, …

I originally wrote this tale in June of 2019. It was called Second Chances. I was about a year and a half into writing my blog when I published it. A ton has changed since that day. Life is full of surprises. Some are good. Some are tough to take. A couple of times a …

Next Wednesday I start facilitating a group for Singles New Beginnings.  The official description reads as follows: The focus of this course is taking small action steps to grow your relationships in number and depth.  Instead of working alone, the company of like-minded people can make the difference between success and failure, hope and despair.  …

I’ve written a lot about losing Ruth and the grief her passing caused.  There’s no way to measure it and there was certainly no way to prepare for it. She was here one moment and gone the next. My dad’s health failed over a number of years, and he was in hospital rooms and care …

I get flashbacks through social media almost every day. Many are blog posts from prior years. If there’s a method to the madness it must be the calendar. I wrote the following three years ago. I posted the blue story the night that Ruth died. I had already written it and followed through with the …

I posted a blog called Three Toasts in April of 2020.  It was about the three toasts that I offered when each of my three children were married: David in August of 2004, Mike in October of 2009 and Elizabeth in April of 2010.  I’m a crier and I cried through each toast.  When I …