A couple shares a romantic, flirtatious moment while toasting with red wine.

DatingFlirting Moves That Can Help Create More Chemistry

A married man watches warily as a woman smiles at messages on her phone, hinting at boundaries being tested.

MarriageLines a Married Man Should Never Cross with Another Woman

A grandmother lovingly comforts her granddaughter while gazing out the window together, staying close but not interfering.

FamilyTypes of Drama in Your Grandchild’s Life Every Grandmother Should Always Stay Out Of

A warmly lit dresser styled with home decor items like a lamp, clock, radio, and dried flowers, showing simple ways to make a house feel like home.

All Love Notes

A woman proudly wears her engagement ring, symbolizing the commitment she waited for before giving her all to her partner.

Dating

Grandmother and granddaughter reading a sweet text message together on a smartphone.

Family

A couple engaged in a tense, heated argument, illustrating warning signs of relationship conflict.

Marriage

From the Kitchen

welcome to the nest

Real Talk About Love, Marriage and Life After the Kids Leave Home

I'm Linda. When the last of our three kids moved out, Tom and I had to figure out how to be just us again. It turned out to be one of the most surprising seasons of our marriage, the good parts and the hard parts both. This is where I write about all of it, honestly. What keeps a long marriage warm, the small things that quietly pull couples apart, what men and women wish the other understood, and how to date your spouse again when the house finally gets quiet.

Meet Linda Read the Love Notes

love, marriage and everything after

Newest Notes on Love

Honest lessons from over thirty years with Tom, and from the couples who made it to fifty.

All relationship posts

Grandma cuddles her grandkids in bed while reading a story together, showing the warmth and comfort of visiting grandma.

Family

The Things Grandkids Should Never Have to Worry About When They Visit Grandma

The grandkids came for the weekend a few weeks back. Their parents dropped them off on Friday night and went to stay…

9 min read

Dating

Men Who Actually Want to Be Faithful Almost Always Stay Away from These Things

Kim from across the street came over on a Tuesday morning in June. Tom had just left for the hardware store. She…

11 min read

Dating

Things Women Should Never Do for a Man

Last week a young woman from two doors down knocked on our side door to borrow the extension ladder. Her name is…

12 min read

Marriage

Second Marriages Later in Life Often Turn Out Happier

My friend Ruth got married in October. She is sixty-four. Her first husband passed six years ago, and for a long while…

15 min read

Woman pulling away with a frustrated expression as a man reaches for her, illustrating a lack of respect in a relationship.

Dating

He Doesn’t Respect You — Here’s How to Tell

Joyce walks with me on Thursday mornings. She lost her husband a few years back, and last spring she started seeing a…

9 min read

A giant unsorted pile of clothes shows just how overwhelming a decluttering fail can get.

Family

Decluttering Fails That Prove Getting Rid of Stuff Is Way Harder Than It Looks

We set a goal this year. The spare room would be cleared out before Thanksgiving. That was the whole plan. Our youngest…

13 min read

Love that lastswhat long marriages do differently

The empty nestbeing just us again

Understanding himwhat men rarely say out loud

Date night ideassweet plans that cost little

Dating

What men and women notice, what they quietly hope for and the signs that someone is truly interested, from a woman who has watched a lot of love stories unfold.

Family

Life with grown children, the empty nest and the family boundaries that protect a marriage.

Marriage

Lessons from a long marriage: the small habits that keep love warm, the warning signs worth noticing and how couples find each other again after the busy years.