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Hi! My name is Zandria, and I live in Washington, DC. I wrote for BlogHer.com for over three years (on topics related to single life and online datin...
 
 
 
 

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Strong Women, Strong Voices

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Don’t you love when you read something that actually makes you stop and think? I like this feeling because I read a lot of different stuff, in all kinds of different places, and I’ve mastered the art of skimming. So it’s generally impossible to spend a lot of time reading something – whether it’s a news article or blog post – slowly, in its entirety.

But there are times when you come across something that makes you slow down; maybe even causes you go back and re-read the preceding paragraphs to get the full gist of what that person is saying. Whenever I come across blog posts like this I save the title, web address, and usually a paragraph or so of the piece (to remind myself why I liked it) in a designated place, just in case I want to use the topic in a post of my own at a later time. (Many of these posts that I save tend to make their way into my posts here at BlogHer.) If I don’t save them, with so much new stuff coming at me every day, I know I’ll quickly forget about them otherwise.

Sometimes I have so many good posts sitting around that I want other people to know about them – even if it doesn’t seem like there’s a central theme tying them together. But you know what? There’s enough of a theme that I feel like these posts make sense. The theme is that these posts are all written by strong, smart women. And I think that’s the best theme of all.

I’ve previously written about why I don’t want to change my last name if I get married. Kerrianne got married last year and she’s currently thinking about this question of What to do?

During month three and four of living as both a Ladish and a Jernigan I started to make a list in my head of everyone I knew and didn’t know who had decided to change their names upon taking vows, and a list of those who had not. I started to wonder if it was a betrayal to not want to take my own husband’s last name. I started to wonder, too, why anyone does.

I’ve also talked about how marriage isn’t for everyone, so I liked this post by Ms. Single Mama. She says, "Married people are weird (for the most part)."

Maybe it’s because I already have the child, the job and the house – minus the husband – but married people mystify me. And why do so many single women want to get married so badly? I can understand why us single moms want to get married – it might be easier. […] But single, childless women. Seriously. What gives? Am I missing something? Why do they want to find a man so badly? I look at young single women and all I think is god – you have the world in front of you. You could do everything...and be with someone – but do you have to marry him? Why this crazy desire for a ring?

I really enjoyed the post Ariel (aka Electrolicious) wrote about how she and her husband have made their relationship work after being part of each other’s lives for over 10 years.

Lovingly call your partner on their weird bullshit
When Dre and I first started dating, I had some bad habits I’d learned in my previous, completely dysfunctional relationships. Really awesome mature stuff like sulking and giving the silent treatment. The first time I tried to do this with Dre, he looked at me and said, “Wait, are you sulking because I’m not paying attention to you?”

I was like, “Gah! No! Jeez! Um… Kind of? Ok, yes.”

His response was, “You know, it’s way easier if you just ask me for my attention. It saves me the trouble of having to figure out that what you want.”

And so now I say things like, “I’m tired and whiny. Will you pay attention to me and pat my head and tell me it will be alright?”

And he does! It works out awesome for both of us.

But remember, like Kat says, you need solitude in your relationship for it to thrive. It’s not required (or healthy) for you to be around each other every possible minute of the day.

I don't remember my parents spending

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nellewrites 6 pts

Willingly or sometimes not, there is no shortage of things that make me stop and think - think about the subject a bit more, but more often, think about my reaction to what was said.

We tend to react to opinions and comments in almost automatic mode - a quick ewwwww, a laugh, a dismissal... but sometimes we catch ourselves on our own bullshit we carry within, and we have to call ourselves on it, or at least contemplate things.

One of the stronger examples of this was with spirituality. I'd listen to a daily programme that once a week did an hour on goddess - and sheesh but I'd get all fidgety and skittish and what not. One day something more came with it - a conscious awareness of it, which then intrigued me and led me to 'why?' So much flowed from that first moment of my mind calling self on bullshit.

I know you are looking for responses within the context of relationships, and wow... part of that is still rather sensitive territory for me, but after 27.5 years of one and separation, reconstruction of a life, etc... if a relationship ever teased at me again, well... I've a pretty good handle - unlike 32 years ago - of what is important for me, what works, what doesn't work, what turns me off, on, pushes away, pulls me in - and I know where my own failings were, in retrospect they light up like a Christmas tree. 

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )