I’m reading a book, “The Book Club for Troublesome Women,” by Maria Bostwick. I would say it is about being a 1960s married woman. I have come to the part in the book where all the four women seem to hate their husbands. Hate is the word that the author uses. I’d like to use the words “seriously unhappy” in their marriages. I know that it the same for both sexes, there are times in a committed relationship, or marriage, where a man will seem to hate the woman in the marriag

Friday, September 11, 2026 is when we acknowledge the twenty fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our beloved country. This year, September 11 is also the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah when we Jews begin the year 5787 in the Jewish calendar. I just read an article that proposes that Judaism has survived thousands of years because it has so many more dimensions than just religion. In Judaism, tzedakah, giving or charity, which also means “justice” or “ri

This post is dedicated to a dear friend who just entered into a new phase in her life, that of being a mother-in-law. Yes, there is a difference between being a mother and being a mother-in-law. All of this post applies to the father-in-law and grandfather in this day and age, and one previous blog post listed below is specifically about a grandfather who needed grandma lessons. There is so much written about relationships between the “in-laws,” especially between mothers-

The death of Dolly Parton hit me hard, harder than I expected. I know I am not alone. She created a persona that was bigger than life, but she was all about a life well lived. A recent Poll I read said Dolly Parton was the most beloved and unifying public figure in America. Her mentee, Taylor Swift, holds the title for being the most visible and culturally dominant force in our country. One might wonder how someone who is a Boomer could be one of the Dollies and one of the

Recently, I spoke to someone close to me who told me about the experience of losing her son to brain cancer when he was eight years old. They did everything they could. How horrific was the journey to try to save their son that she shared! The memories are vivid and painful still and, in my opinion, may last her lifetime. I picked up The New York Times, and on the front page, Thursday, July 9, 2026, was an article about parents choosing to possibly lose a child, “As Parents

Kylie Kelce, the wife of Jason Kelce, and new sister-in-law of Taylor Swift, has what she calls the ultimate postpartum gift guide for baby showers, which I love. Yes, I am a grandmother of six where the youngest is eight years old. No matter, I watched Kylie Kelce’s podcast on Facebook on the best postpartum gift guide for baby showers for Moms to be. I am a real Kylie Kelcie fan. I never thought I would be, but she truly tells everything like it is and doesn’t pull any p

Intimacy. Romance. Intimacy. Luxury. Intimacy. Location. Intimacy, Privacy. Intimacy, Memories. As a divorce lawyer and divorce judge for decades, I have lectured and written often that the first thing that goes in a relationship is intimacy. Life interferes with the intimate connection that brought a couple to the point of commitment to the relationship. Maintaining the intimate connection should be the primary intent of any relationship, it keeps it healthy and vibrant. I

My husband died a little more than three years ago. He had pancreatic cancer and lived for five years and two months. At the first appointment at Sloan Kettering, with outstanding oncologist Dr Eileen O’Reilly, he asked how much time he had. Dr. O’Reilly said six months to five years. At the five-year appointment, he said to Dr. O’Reilly, “it is now five years, so when do I die?” Not only was Dr. O’Reilly taken aback, but so was I. He died two months later. I now believe

Putting your faith in the stars has paved the way for “a lot of the innovations in science, social practice, and religion that still exist today,“ which include the 360° circle, and the use of computation as opposed to observation for predicting the movement of planets. “ This is according to the curator of an exhibit and professor of history and ancient science at the Free University of Berlin, Mathieu Ossendrijver, quoted in “Charting Astrology’s Origins in a Museum Show,“

I have always heard about spring cleaning, and now that it is spring, I feel guilty not thinking about spring cleaning. Then, ‘death cleaning’ appeared in my radar, and the first thing I thought of is that it is a terrible title! But it is a real thing! You get to a certain age and you start to automatically read obituaries. It’s not that you’re anticipating death, it’s just that what those dead accomplished in their life becomes interesting. In the New York Times, Obi

All the news today is that “Women in Their 20s May Not Be Having Babies, but by 45 Most Probably Will," New York Times, April 9, 2026, by Claire Cain Miller. Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics say that the fertility rate, the number of births per thousand women of childbearing age, dropped to 53.1 from 53.8 in 2024 and has been falling since 2007 “…. showing a rise in the fertility rate among women in their 30s and 40s. The fertility rate for women

I met Cora Wen at the memoir writers’ retreat in Guatemala. There was something about Cora that drew me to her. Maybe it was that both of us came from immigrant families. Her energy is addictive. Cora was my therapeutic yoga teacher as well. We met at 7 AM every morning and she helped heal my broken shoulder, the Eastern way, and its excellent healing surprised my Western doctor. East and West. Much better when our lives – and our health -- are intertwined. Cora wrote P

One of the worst moments in life is when the doctor advises to call hospice for you or your loved one. Inside, you panic. This is navigating a new unknown. The end is now close, and no one wants to contemplate this inevitable. Hospice care is supposed to be specialized, compassionate care for individuals with terminal illnesses (generally less than six months to live) that is supposed to prioritize quality of life, comfort, and dignity over curative treatment . Suppo

As a grandmother, I will do anything to make my grandchildren happy. I knew about MrBeast on YouTube because my then seven-year-old and 13 year-old grandchildren kept showing me all the contests where he was giving away ridiculously large amounts of cash. They were hooked on MrBeast, who has been on YouTube for thirteen years, longer than the ages of my grandchildren when they introduced me to him. When MrBeast announced that he was selling chocolate, of course they wanted th

We grandparents love to spend time with our grandchildren. My grandchildren range from age 7 to age 22, and each of the six is special in his or her own way. Five of them are Generation Z or “Zoomers”, between 14 and 29 years old, the first true digital generation, knowing and living with smartphones and social media attached to them at the hip, and finding anything that will grab their attention otherwise is a miracle. Enter the miracle of American Mah Jongg! And auspicio

My mother, a Holocaust survivor and daughter of a Kabbalist rabbi from a small town in pre World War II Poland, had a unique outlook on life. It is not unusual that looking back on my childhood and younger adulthood that I realize now her wisdom was rooted in Kabbalah. I just did not know then. I wrote a previous New Year’s blog about my mother and feelings of gratitude. Rereading it reminded me of the wonderful generational life lessons she instilled in me every day that she

Within the last several months, I have felt a sudden compulsion to address the Holocaust in my life and write a memoir of how the Holocaust impacted my family and me. Until this point, I could not see movies about the Holocaust, I could not read books about the Holocaust. I could not deal with the Holocaust as a child of Holocaust survivors. This turnabout has perplexed me. Because of this new compulsion, I just returned from a Jewish Heritage tour to Eastern Europe, visited

Whenever a couple near and dear to me tells me that they are entering into a committed relationship, getting engaged, or getting married, I first recommend premarital counseling, which I learned builds a strong foundation for the new committed relationship or marriage. There will be three entities, each person as an individual and as a separate entity, the committed or marital relationship. Combining the entities in a safe, expert setting eases the transition. Why not make g

All of a sudden, or not so sudden with the domination of social media, and everybody in a group sitting on their phones rather than talking to each other, studies about everything about friends and friendships are everywhere. But are they helpful? The Why I was raised by two Holocaust survivors who believed that friends were those who turned you over to the Nazis, and only family members were the people you could depend on and with whom you should surround yourself. Leaving o

There is a new trauma for the parents of our baby grandchildren and we grandparents have the key to alleviate the angst. The controversy...