Tag: back

This year my husband and I will celebrate 28 years of marriage, and I really don’t know where the time has gone. I remember when I got engaged at 18 to be married one year later, the prospect of life ahead with my husband Gabriel held so many possibilities. I was ecstatic, young, romantic, idealistic, but not too naive. I had already endured childhood and adolescent challenges like sexual abuse, low self-esteem and the resulting self-hatred had developed a confident exterior that fooled everyone. Although young, I was tough and mature beyond my years with a promising future ahead in academia.

Take a minute and close your eyes, breathe deeply and think about the phrase, "over and over again." Are you thinking what I’m thinking? What comes to my mind is something very romantic and sensual. Think about how the love in your relationship is going and be honest with yourself.

Are you taking good care of one of the most important aspects of your marriage? I’m not talking sex and the three-minute thrill.

Honestly, I didn’t know if I could rely on my husband as I approached back surgery to correct my scoliosis. Before my date with hospital destiny, which would involve a long and difficult recovery, John and I weren’t doing well. We’d been married more than a decade, but were busy in our separate careers: mine as a screenwriter and university professor and his as a space architect designing for Life Beyond Earth. In fact, I sometimes felt he might as well have been on another planet. We were on two separate paths and that year, prior to my surgery, we had even considered separating.