353: How I Got Close to My Emotionally Distan...

Iva's partner was always pulling away, avoiding her, preferring his friends, and hiding in his office to escape her. Then she started noticing small lies that made no sense to her. She would snoop, confront him, and the fights would spiral until he was shouting and she felt threa ...  Show more

Everyone told Michelle to leave: her mother, her grandfather, even her rabbi. Her husband had shut down while she carried eight pregnancies, worked full time, and managed a house full of chaos largely on her own. When things got hard, he would go silent for days or disappear at n ...  Show more

Dear Steve and Shirley, I was a single and attractive, 34 year old woman, losing hope at finding love. I grew tired of the dating cycle and I decided that I would not have sex again until I was married. I prayed and practiced celibacy and a year later, I met the man of my dreams. ...  Show more

They were in love for 6 years and building a life together. They froze embryos and agreed on a timeline for getting pregnant. But when the time came, he wavered, and the relationship fell apart. Now she finds herself alone, angry, scared, and having to rethink her definition of f ...  Show more

They had a whirlwind romance, and he spun a tale of their future to come—marriage, kids, a life together. He's in his mid-forties, and she is in her late thirties, and so after only three months together, she is pregnant, and they have broken up. Now, Esther meets her the month a ...  Show more

Dear Steve and Shirley, let’s get right to it. Here's my dilemma… I’m a 38 year old woman and I've never wanted to have children. Five years ago, I was in a great relationship and we were talking about getting married, but he wanted children and I did not. So we mutually decided ...  Show more