Tag: Family & Education

To the Valentines Struggling to Hang On

This isn’t a lovey-dovey Valentine’s Day story. This is a shout-out to all the valentines struggling to hang on. For 30 years, my husband, Mike, and I have worked with couples preparing for marriage. Over the years, as we aged and morphed, the topics we discussed with the couples morphed as well. These days, after…


Roses and Groundhogs: Let’s Make Valentine’s Day a True Festival of Love

Every year, on Feb. 2, world-famous groundhog and weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania—see if you can say those last five words 10 times really fast—tells us what the rest of winter will look like. With a great show of ceremony, the chubby little guy is brought out before a large, boisterous crowd. If he…


How to Find True Satisfaction

In both the East and the West, philosophies and religions have called on us to be still, let go, and rest in faith. Yet so many of us spend our time striving for a better life. We define what we want, then hustle and push ourselves to make it happen. When it does happen, we…


21 Ideas to Create More Love in Your Marriage

Loving relationships are truly a blessing. They are an oasis in a challenging and difficult world. But while romance may arise spontaneously and fill us with love, once the honeymoon phase has passed, we usually need to invest to maintain and deepen our love for our partner. “The key to finding joy in loving others…


Dear Next Generation: The Only Quest Worth Pursuing

Dear Next Generation. It’s important to look at the deeper meaning behind Valentine’s Day because there’s a lot more going on besides heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, flowers, and teddy bears. The concept of love is definitely worth exploring. I believe that not only is true love possible but that it’s the ideal natural state of…


The $5 Lawn

Search online for “Americans are lazy workers” and a cluster of articles pops up. Some of them deny that claim, while others declare it valid. A few writers also point out that this accusation is decades old, while those who disagree argue that today’s employees are in fact much lazier than in days gone by….


Etiquette Tuneup

Most of us believe we have good manners, but sometimes, we may inadvertently slip a bit. The following are things that many do without realizing they’re breaking etiquette laws. Hold That Call Continuing a phone call as you board and then ride an elevator, while you’re at the checkout register of a store, or while…


Building Bridges: Adults Young and Old Are Natural Allies

In the 21st century, division has become as American as mom and apple pie. Red states and blue states, left and right, black and white, male and female, rich and poor: Our culture teaches us to judge others by such criteria as skin color, where we went to school and the work we do, and…


Happiness Is Friendship: 3 Elements to Fight Loneliness and Government Intrusion

That individual unhappiness is at unprecedented levels would probably surprise no one anymore. Combine the state of the world—rising crime rates, political fights, and a squelching of freedoms—with the increased atomization of everyone, and it’s difficult for even the most happy-go-lucky among us to keep a smile on. But there is hope, as a recent…


Montessori Goes to College: A Vision for Self-Reliance

We hear a lot of negative news these days about the state of our colleges and universities: low-bar requirements for admission, the abandonment of such survey courses as literature and U.S. history, grade inflation, professors with a leftist agenda, censorship, and of course, ever-rising tuition and fees. Less noted is the dramatic decline in liberal…