By Amanda Elder

My husband and I started out as good friends. We dated for a year, and then quickly tied the knot. Before being with him, I never felt strongly about marriage, nor did I feel compelled to become a wife. However, Josh and I both had this knowing that we were meant to be together, and a monumental decision, like marriage, became a very simple one.

Despite our faith in each other and the strong love we had, we knew that marriage is a big commitment, and that ebbs and flows in our relationship would be inevitable. We…

By Stacey Marmolejo

When I graduated from college, I went to work for Eastern Airlines. At the time, it was one of the major airlines, like Pan Am and TWA. That was before Expedia, Priceline, and Orbitz; before you could book your own flights on a computer. Truth be told, it was even before personal computers! The only way you could book a trip was to call the airline or call a travel agent.

My job was to convince travel agents to book their clients on Eastern Airlines. The biggest tool in the shed was what was called Fam Trips…

By Zachery Roman

I’m not a master communicator. In fact, I tend to put my foot in my mouth more often than not, especially when I’m trying to communicate to my daughters how much I love them. Perhaps you can relate. Yet, as a father of two girls, I know that expressing my love for them is extremely important. So, I found a way to share how I feel about them but in a manner that lets me carefully formulate my thoughts: I write a letter.

Yes, I know writing letters is old-fashioned. It also takes time. But there’s something…

By Tor Constantino

There’s an old saying that goes like this …

Men use intimacy to get sex, women use sex to get intimacy.

I don’t know how valid that statement is, but I do know that every woman I have ever met craves more intimacy with the man whom they’re in a serious relationship with.

At its most basic definition, intimacy suggests a mutual sharing that benefits both individuals. There are a variety of types of intimacy that include shared ideas, feelings, experiences, or physical contact.

Each of us needs some degree of connection across each of those areas…

By Shawn Doyle

I know as a man you think that women are all about the big things; the cars the cash and the elaborate vacations, but here is what you don’t know- what really matters to a woman, what really melts her heart and will make her love you forever, is the small things. Why is that gentleman? Well it’s simple. Because the small things let her know that you’re thinking of her and that’s what she most wants to know.

Here are 20 ways that you can show your wife that you love her in ways that will…

By Alec McPike

In 1785, the poet Robert Burns was plowing his field in rural Scotland when he accidentally stirred up a mouse’s nest. With her lodging destroyed, and plans for winter dashed to pieces, the mouse disappeared into a sea of churned earth.

Sensing a deeper metaphor for life, as artists tend to do, Burns decided to write a poem about the experience, apparently, while still leaning on his plough.

Feeling terrible about having destroyed the mouse’s hard work, Burns writes, “Your small house, too, in ruin! / Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!” …

By Gint Aras

I was at a book sale and signing event a few years ago, sharing a table with another writer. The bookstore, located in a place with virtually no foot traffic, was near-empty, and the only people who came to our tables were interested in getting our signatures so that they could use them to enter a raffle the store had organized. My table partner and I spent the time talking about the usual things: book marketing strategies, the publishing industry and our current projects.

Eventually, I asked the guy, “What are you reading?”

He shrugged and said…

By Doug Zeigler

Few things bring me more joy than seeing my wife smile. It doesn’t just brighten up the room, it illuminates my entire day. Fortunately, this is a very common thing, since we both love to live and make each other the focus of each other’s happiness. There is something that does, rather quickly, take that smile I adore away from her wonderfully freckled face: certain calls or texts from her ex-husband.

My wife and I were both previously married and we have each brought 2 children from those relationships to our home. My ex-wife has evolved to…