Relationships

Are emotional attitudes such as love liable to harbor regrets or dwell on past alternatives or what might have been? Intellectual considerations assume that this would constitute a waste of time and resources, but lovers quite often do experience regret or mourn lost romantic opportunities. Is there any sense in doing this? Should we sometimes cry over spilled milk?  Read More

When we examine the lives of men who kill many people, they present a portrait of isolation and often of yearning for intimacy with women.  This loneliness is a high-risk situation. Read More

It's easy to get caught up in gossip. A friend or colleague starts talking about someone you both know. She lays out some juicy information you haven't heard before, almost baiting you to chime in. Whether it's true or not, you reflexively up the ante by spilling a rumor you recently heard about that person, too. Read More

We all know that parenting teenagers is no piece of cake, but I have to say it's harder with a stepchild than your own flesh and blood. It's especially hard for stepmothers Read More

Editor's Note: From the moment I began reading Ellen's To The Max, a blog about life and love with her son, Max, who had a stroke at birth. I immediately found myself captivated by her honesty, something that is sometimes lacking in the disability world. Read More

The kinship among women these past forty years, since the woman's movement, has created stronger, more intimate bonds than ever before. If we compare what female friendship entailed in the 1950's and early 1960's to today, women were more guarded and less comfortable discussing their innermost feelings. Read More

I've never met my fellow PT blogger Sophia Dembling in person but consider her a friend of sorts. We met as members of one or another online writer communities that we both frequent because we have so many overlapping interests. She lives in Texas but her roots are pure New York. I love her sense of humor and her refreshing candor. Read More

Everybody has a nickname for their mother. Maybe they're not comfortable with the traditional Mom label. Case in point: In one of my favorite movies, "Mermaids," Winona Ryder's character calls her mother Mrs. Flax. She takes the professional-relationship route. My sister, Janelle, and I call our mother Ms. Bear. Read More