Marital Advice Shopping: Man vs. Woman In case you haven't noticed, men and women view shopping differently. How A Man Shops When a man goes shopping for a new pair of shoes, he walks into a shoe store where he has previously purchased shoes or he goes to a store that is easy to get in and out of.  He looks over the shoes on display, selects a pair that he likes and checks to see if the store has a pair in his size.  He may or may not try on the shoes.  He takes the shoes to the counter, pays for them, and heads for home where he has important things to do like watch a game on TV or do a little woodworking.  Approximately seven minutes will have lapsed from the time he entered the store until he exited it. He will wear that pair of shoes for at least ten years and the older they get the better he will like them. How A Woman Shops A woman will enter a shoe store and look at every pair in the store, including styles that she would never...

Marital Advice Let The Training Begin  Joel, this concept was already expressed in this epistle's introduction, but I repeat it here just in case you missed it the first time. To your wife, you are more than a husband, you are a Project - a Work-in-Progress.  When Abby chose to marry you, she apparently saw in you hidden potential that no other woman in the world was able to spot, including her mother, her sisters, and her friends.  For the rest of her life, she will try on a daily basis to coax, mold, and beat that hidden potential into some semblance of the admirable man she visualizes you have the ability to become. You will be in training every day of your married life.  Sometimes, the training will be so subtle that you may not even know that you are being trained.  Other times, there will be no doubt, such as in the preceding story that was posted in this blog, "The Gift Horse." Jump-Starting Your Training In order to make Ab...

Advice 101.4 The Gift Horse - 101.4h Settling Into Married Life (Continued) There will be numerous times throughout your marriage that you will buy Abby presents for her birthday, anniversaries, Christmas, Valentines Day, and other occasions.  Buying the perfect gift is an art and a science.  If you do this right, Abby will brag to her friends about the wonderful, thoughtful gift you gave her and may even treasure it forever as a keepsake.  If you do it wrong, you will pay in ways that you cannot even imagine. I could provide a list of ten things to do and not to do when buying gifts for your wife, but the following true story might be easier to remember. A Gift She Will Never Forget, Nor Will He It is Bill and Diane's first wedding anniversary.  They have a lovely dinner at home and share a bottle of good wine.  Now, it is time to open the gifts that they purchased for each other. Bill opens his gift first.  It is the golf putter th...