My family fell apart and I don’t know how to fix it
DEAR ABBY: My husband of 31 years died suddenly five years ago. Our family — four kids, six grandkids — was devastated. We still haven’t recovered. We used to be a happy bunch, spending time at the lake, backyard barbecues by the pool and football games. My husband was an integral part of this. With […]
Divorce coach Fran Young: How to spot a cheating husband and enjoy life after marriage
Where did you grow up? In Pukekohe, my dad was a market gardener, and mum owned a takeaway. As a kid, I used to thin lettuce, grade and wash carrots. When I was 10, I helped in the takeaway – it was slave labour. After I graduated at Waikato Uni I went to Japan and […]
Feeling betrayed by a family member? Here’s how to cope
From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense: As social animals, we benefit from avoiding rejection. “To the extent that social rejection or exclusion is a threat to survival, feeling ‘hurt’ by these experiences may be an adaptive way to prevent them,” Eisenberger wrote. Perhaps your father-in-law had a reason that made sense to him, but […]
How Geraldine Brooks learned how to live again through grief
In 2019, Australian writer Geraldine Brooks was forced into a world of practicalities when her beloved husband, Tony, collapsed on the street in the United States and died. She had to immediately manage finances and family life, organise a funeral and work out what had happened for Tony to so suddenly and unexpectedly die. As […]