Respect for each other’s point of view can make your marriage better! My husband was on the debate team. I was on the cheerleading squad. While he was sharpening his mind, I was perfecting my round-off. Alternately, he had his sports, baseball and running. …

Good manners in your marriage can reap big benefits My mother rarely had anything kind to say to my father, and I grew up with very few memories of her saying “Please” and “Thank you” to him. Yet she was a charming woman, a regular fixture at social events in my Southern hometown. She was gracious to everyone, and…

The more you give, the more you receive. When I woke up yesterday morning, I looked over at my husband and smiled. He was sleeping later than usual, and that made me happy. I got up to make coffee, something he does so much of the time. …

In the summer of 1989, I stood at my kitchen counter, reading The Miami Herald and sipping coffee before heading to work, when I came upon an article that said the governor of the state of Florida was planning to call a special session of the Florida Legislature to act…

There’s no doubt dementia diminishes the ability for effective communication between the patient and caregiver. When people can’t comprehend what is being said, or can’t find the words to express their own thoughts, it can be painful, embarrassing and frustrating. How a caregiver sets the tone for the conversation can…

HOW CAREGIVERS FOR PARENTS WITH DEMENTIA CAN IMPROVE COMMUNICATION Children are moving their dementia-afflicted parents out of long-term care facilities due to fears about COVID-19’s high fatality rates, and/or because they recognize that imposed isolation is accelerating their parents’ cognitive and physical decline. In becoming the primary parental caregiver, children…

Should Family Members Be Compensated for Caregiving? We’re a nation of busy, burdened people. Holding home and hearth and body and soul together during this turbulent time takes more energy than we ever thought we could muster. Living with the undercurrents of fear, grief, and uncertainty depletes our energy reserves…

Last Friday, May 3, when one of Bill Maher’s guests suggested Democrats needed “someone larger than the president” (not in waistline, in stature) Bill Maher said, “I’ll tell you who.” He then told a story about going to a party “way up in the Hollywood Hills,” where every guest had…

I wrote the following blog for Huffington Post in June, 2016, largely touting Wendy Davis’s epic filibuster, and warning that it was time for women of every generation to stop taking choice for granted. I had written a book, Moral Infidelity, about an anti-abortion governor whose mistress became pregnant, and…