by Nancy | Jun 5, 2024
I have a friend whose wife is everywhere and anywhere with the kids or her co-workers, yet makes no time, in his eyes, for their marriage. He’s told me on numerous occasions that he has no friends, and that he feels abandoned in his own home. I have another friend...
by Nancy | May 29, 2024
It’s ironic that professionally, I help other people resolve conflict, yet in my personal life, I am decidedly conflict averse. Despite my attempts to avoid them, when I find myself getting sucked into an argument, I push back, defend myself, and go to the...
by Nancy | May 22, 2024
What happens when your kids catch you in a lie? Do you lose all credibility forever? When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I heard the term “white lie” for the first time, directly from my mom. (I Googled the expression to make sure it wasn’t racist...
by Nancy | May 15, 2024
People who win Powerball, the Lottery, or a ginormous slot machine jackpot are definitely lucky. How about winners of the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, the Stanley Cup, or the World Series? Are they lucky? Am I lucky when I make every green light along Eastern...
by Nancy | May 8, 2024
Despite all the news about cyber-bullying, shaming is not solely a social media phenomenon. I can trace it back to my childhood (way, way before the internet), when my kindergarten teacher, “Miss Brooks,” shamed me in front of the whole class. I innocently...
by Nancy | May 1, 2024
When I was in high school, this was a burning question having sexual implications. Nice girls were virgins. Good girls were not. Now that we’re (hopefully) past considering the significance of someone’s virginity, there’s a whole new world about...
by Nancy | Apr 24, 2024
Family secrets can create a strong bond, or they can be divisive. Either way, they’re powerful. And for some reason, they are almost always significant. Affairs, abuse, addiction, mental illness, and even arrests are giant secrets that family members can be...
by Nancy | Apr 17, 2024
Those of you who’ve known me for a while might recall that I have reinvented myself several times. After the death of both my parents and my husband in a 20-month time span, I reinvented myself on a massive scale. No longer a daughter or a wife, for the first...
by Nancy | Apr 10, 2024
I have come to realize that I have a difficult time setting boundaries. As a result, sometimes I feel under-appreciated, and sometimes downright taken for granted. Why is this so hard for me? Is it because of my birth order (youngest of three)? Is it because I like to...
by Nancy | Apr 3, 2024
Sometimes when I’m conducting a divorce mediation, I think I’m a puppeteer, pulling the strings of my disagreeing clients, and trying to steer them away from any accompanying disrespect. I’m not always successful, though. I’ve heard spouses...
by Nancy | Mar 27, 2024
If you’re a member of a family, chances are you’ve participated in a family meeting. Whether you’re deciding about pizza toppings, which movie to watch, or where to go on vacation, if there’s more than one decision maker, somehow a consensus arrives. My dad used to...
by Nancy | Mar 20, 2024
In case you were wondering, the expression “it takes a village” apparently originated from an African proverb emphasizing the importance of community in raising a child. It is also the title of a book written by Hillary Clinton more than 10 years ago...
