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

FamilyEncouraging Text Messages to Send Your Grandkids That Will Totally Make Their Day

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

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

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

MarriageNever Marry a Man Who Shows These Warning Signs

All Love Notes Dating

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

Family

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

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

Family

Smart Ways to Handle Inherited Family Stuff Without Guilt

The weekend after the leaves were done, Tom went down to the basement for the folding chairs and came back up holding…

12 min read

An older man gazes affectionately at a younger woman, hinting at the dynamic of leaving a wife for someone younger.

Marriage

Men Who Choose a Younger Woman Over Their Wives Are Often Not Prepared for These Consequences

Last spring Tom came in from the garage and set his keys on the counter without saying anything. That is not like…

11 min read

Dating

Women Over 35 Reveal the Age Gap They’ll Actually Date, and Some Answers Will Surprise You

My friend Donna sat at my kitchen table on a Tuesday morning and stirred her coffee for a long time without drinking…

12 min read

An adult daughter speaks earnestly to her emotional mother, reflecting a heartfelt moment of apology between parent and child.

Family

Apologies Your Adult Children Still Need to Hear from You

Our oldest said something to me at Sunday dinner this winter that I have not been able to shake. We were clearing…

10 min read

Couple embracing in a romantic silhouette above city lights, a scene that looks like a fairy tale but hides harsher truths about love.

Dating

The Harsh Truths About Love That Movies and Fairy Tales Completely Lied to You About

The grandkids were here last weekend, and one of them picked the movie. It was a princess one. There was a castle,…

10 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.

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.