Coming Home; Building A Place for Family

When I proposed to my wife, I saw her for what she was; An intelligent, beautiful woman and my best friend.  What I didn't consider at that time was the elegant tapestry already woven in her mind by her parent's and siblings.  It's something that many people fail to consider - the deep influence of our in-laws on spouses - until we end up trying to cooperate with them (during wedding planning, vacations,  visits, and so on). Picture source:  https://www.theintentionallife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/spouses-family-900px.jpg After getting married, her very savvy Mother (a real estate agent) helped us buy a house that fit our needs perfectly.  As an added bonus, she would live only a mile away from us!  I remember thinking that this was "awfully convenient", and feeling a slight resentment toward her for drawing us in (seemingly) against our will.  Well,  my  will.  I wasn't expecting our close proximity to make much of a differe...

One of the greatest tools in marriage is communication.  I feel like we've talked about this to great length already, and you may be wondering to yourself, "Should I even read the rest of what he's about to write?  This'll be like, his fourth blog post focused on communication."  Yes.  Yes it will be.  And yes, you should read the rest of this because communication is IMPORTANT.  I will never not communicate about the importance of communication. However, wouldn't it be nice if there was a venue where you could trust in the powers of communication?  A place where family matters could be hashed out and decided in a somewhat civil manner?  I know that I sure do.  As the father of one little boy, I can already tell you that having more than one child under the age of 10 is going to make this dream far, far removed from me.  However, like a little tree is not ready to brave the storms of the world until it has sprouted roots, we must root...