marriage

For someone like me — someone with difficulty forming and maintaining relationships, who has struggled with commitment, and who’s got intimacy issues galore — surely, you can see the appeal. You don’t need to be Freud to figure out why, at a disturbingly young age, I looked forward to the day a man would commit.

She’s made all the mistakes, so you don’t have to.

In my mind, I was Beyoncé, and she was Becky. She was the one he needed to run back to. She was the one who could have his ass, because I was leaving and I wasn’t sorry about it.
Then Lemonade came out and the light bulb came on.

Although divorce would’ve been the right thing for Mom and Joe, they still used it as a weapon against each other. I was often caught up in the crossfire. Sometimes, I worry that Ryan is going to come home from work, drop his bag at the door, and drop an “I want a divorce” bomb on me.

It's just taking the stress and shame out a completely normal, albeit icky, range of acts. It's saying, 'I'd avoid the bathroom for a while, babe' instead sending yourself to hospital.

The gynecologist said, “Congratulations!” He sent me home with some vitamin B pills, assuming that of COURSE I was going to carry this baby to term. My heart ached and I was devastated all over again — but I knew I could not support the life of a child.

They call us bitches. We're too forward, or too loud. They say we're not ladylike. That we should shut up and sit down. And we should be content with what we've got — what else do we want, anyway? They say we're trying to be men. They say we hate men. But we say we're strong women, and they can go to hell. The internet glorifies strong women while slut-shaming out the other side of its mouth.

After years in apartments that should have been condemned, even these sad restroom facilities were vast improvements. And so we stayed, the husband and I, vaguely embarrassed when guests stayed over and commented on the bordello vibe of the bathroom.

Then we had a kid. No working bathtub suddenly seemed like a big deal. And the functional bathroom spaces weren’t places you’d want to hang out. There’s a lot of bathroom time once you’ve got tiny humans. (You’ve been warned.)