Recent family-related news included tips on minimizing proposal jitters, the economic situation in Senegal forces couples to take on new roles, a personal account of one couple’s divorce and their remarriage, the United Methodist Church uses mediation to find a way to honor same-sex marriage and a look at whether January is really “divorce month.”
How to Get Ahead of Proposal Anxiety Charreah K. Jackson, The New York Times, December 21, 2019 The peak time for many couples to become engaged is typically from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day…Holiday engagements, though, can often bring added stress to an already stressful time of year…here are some tips to reduce the stress.
Left Behind by Migrant Husbands, Women Break the Rules and Go to Work Dionne Searcey; Photographs by Laura Boushnak, The New York Times, December 30, 2019 Wives are shocking their traditional West African villages by earning money and running large households while their husbands are in Europe seeking jobs…A woman had “thought about leaving her husband. But she loved him. And how could she leave a man who was only trying to do better for his family? Women in nearby villages in similar situations had divorced migrant husbands to find companions closer to home…”
I Do. Take 2. Tammy La Gorce, The New York Times, January 3, 2020 Linda Tracy and Peter Tracy had been married 37 years, before divorcing in 2015. When their sons began planning their own weddings, Mom and Dad rediscovered love. “Our parents have shown us that when two halves come together to form a whole, the results can be quite wonderful for quite some time,” Joshua said. “But sometimes those halves drift apart, and only when they heal and grow can they become whole for themselves again. Two halves don’t make a whole, two wholes make a whole.”
United Methodist Church Announces Proposal to Split Over Gay Marriage Meg Anderson, The New York Times, January 4, 2020 The United Methodist Church recently announced a proposal to split the denomination over what it called “fundamental differences” regarding its beliefs on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. If passed, it would allow for a “traditionalist” denomination to separate from the United Methodist Church, the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., with more than 12 million members worldwide. The new traditionalist denomination, once separate, would open the door for the existing United Methodist Church to repeal the church’s ban on same-sex marriages and LGBTQ clergy.
‘Divorce Month’ Fact or Fiction: Do More Couples Split in January? Derrick Bryson Taylor, The New York Times, January 4, 2020 While some lawyers see an increase in divorce filings after the holidays, one study said March and August are actually the months when it’s more common for couples to split.
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