Victoria Laurie

I immersed myself in my relationship with my husband, in little ways at first. Dutch would come home from his morning workout and I__ bring him coffee as he stepped out of the shower. He__ slip into a crisp white shirt and dark slacks and run a little goop through his hair, and I__ eye him in the mirror with desire and a sultry smile that he couldn__ miss. He__ head to work and I__ put a love note in his bag__ust a line about how proud I was of him. How beautiful he was. How happy I was as his wife.He__ come home and cook dinner and instead of camping out in front of the TV while he fussed in the kitchen, I__ keep him company at the kitchen table and we__ talk about our days, about our future, about whatever came to mind. After dinner, he__ clear the table and I__ do the dishes, making sure to compliment him on the meal. On those weekends when he__ head outside to mow the lawn, I__ bring him an ice-cold beer. And, in those times when Dutch was in the mood and maybe I wasn__, well, I got in the mood and we had fun.As the weeks passed and I kept discovering little ways to open myself up to him, the most amazing thing happened. I found myself falling madly, deeply, passionately, head-over-heels in love with my husband. I__ loved him as much as I thought I could love anybody before I__ married him, but in treating him like my own personal Superman, I discovered how much of a superhero he actually was. How giving he was. How generous. How kind, caring, and considerate. How passionate. How loving. How genuinely good. And whatever wounds had never fully healed from my childhood finally, at long last, formed scar tissue. It was like being able to take a full breath of air for the first time in my life. It was transformative. And it likely would save our marriage, because, at some point, all that withholding would__e turned a loving man bitter. On some level I think I__ known that and yet I__ needed my sister to point it out to me and help me change.Sometimes it__ good to have people in your life that know you better than you know yourself.

And I was fairly certain that my strong-enough-for-King-Kong-but-made-for-a-woman deodorant had utterly failed. --Doom with a View

Gilly Gilleshpee

You__e missed a lot of things. But mostly I think you__e missed several opportunities to leave. Let me assist you to the door so that you won__ miss this next one.