He put his family ahead of my wellbeing. — I remember lying on the floor, my face against the carpet. My one-year-old son was next to me, playing with his toy trains. As a child with ADHD, who was already expressing signs of hyperactivity by six months of age, he was uncharacteristically calm at this moment. …

Some people never change — I showed up at my ex-husband’s house the other day to drop off our children. Luckily, my ex and I are getting along much better than we were when we first divorced. He’s remarried and is much happier. Because of that, I’m happier, too. Because my ex and I are…

Because then they’ll know the truth about where we live. — My son has autism, which makes it very challenging for him to have friends. It was tragic for me to watch him during his early years at school. Other kids would say “hello” to him and he’d just ignore them. Or in response to their “hello,” he’d point out the…

My sense of worth can’t be derived from outside traits. — “Kevin’s parents sold their house and made $400,000 in profit,” my eldest son tells me as I drive him to school. Kevin is his best friend. Apparently, Kevin’s parents had bought their house for a million and sold it for 1.4 million. Hence, they made $400,000. I respond that their…

Life changes. Sometimes we can control these changes; sometimes we can’t. — Dogs often crap in the yard in front of the duplex where I live. No one cleans up after their dog even though this is the socially expected thing to do. One would think a dog owner would realize someone lives in this duplex — a family (two families, in…

Society views a man’s time as more valuable than a woman’s. — “I’m too busy to do that,” my ex-husband recently told me when I asked him to help our son study for his Social Studies test. Our son has a D in the class, after all. He has a learning disability and needs extra help to do well in his classes. …

Unemployed men have the option to do jobs traditionally held by women but often refuse. — A recession is a period of significant economic decline that lasts for more than a few months. The National Bureau of Economic Research has yet to formally declare the U.S. economy in a recession. But if our economy does fall into a recession, will we also see a “man-cession”? What’s a “man-cession”? During…

I only put up with it because I was insecure after my divorce. — Gerald gestured to me from his booth in the middle of the restaurant where he’d invited me to meet him for our first date. He gave me the international hand signal to “hold on.” I did what he said, and “held on” at the entrance of the restaurant. We’d matched…

Only by “loudly quitting” was I able to finally move on. — “We need to go to marriage therapy now!” my husband cried out. I’d just told him I was leaving him. He said I’d blindsided him, and demanded we go to marriage therapy right that moment. Actually, we ended up in the counselor’s office the very next day. My husband called…