Table of Contents
Introduction: Who Are We? Why Are We Here? vii
The First Core: Building and Filling 1
1 Connection is Your Lubrication 5
2 The Garage Will Get Dirty 8
3 Fix the Roof 11
4 Use Your Oxygen Mask 14
5 The RV 17
6 I Don't Give a Shit about the Dry Cleaning 20
7 Silence Is Not Golden 24
8 It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It 27
9 If It Won't Matter, Don't Say It 31
10 I Think I Can, I Know We Can 35
Couple's Kickstarters 38
The Second Core: Money, Money, Money 41
1 Fun, Fun, Fun till Reality Takes Your T-Bird Away 43
2 You Canceled My Newspaper? 46
3 Learn to Drive before You're Sixty-Five 50
4 A Balance of Power 53
5 Don't Wait for the Repo Man 56
6 Don't Bank the Bitching 60
7 Harvard 63
8 Cash and Kids 66
9 The Swimming Pool 69
Couple's Kickstarters 72
The Third Core: Parents and Partners 75
1 The Adoption Option 78
2 Pass the Trash 82
3 Voted off the Island 85
4 Make It, Take It 88
5 Jesus joins the Family 91
6 No One Sends You Dinner When Your Kid Is in the Psych Ward 95
7 Sticks and Stones 98
8 Addiction Finds Us 101
9 Ride in the Same Ambulance 104
10 Letters to Our Daughter 109
11 To Our Other Three 114
Couple's Kickstarters 116
The Fourth Core: Bumping and Grinding 119
1 It's Not a Budget Item 122
2 Tussies 125
3 That's Not My Finger 128
4 Is That All There Is? 131
5 A Hitch in Your Giddyup 134
6 To Porn or Not to Porn 138
7 Is There Even Such a Thing? 142
8 I Don't Need Another job 145
9 Two Minutes and a Tissue 148
Couple's Kickstarters 151
The Fifth Core: It's a Balancing Act 155
1 Costco 158
2 Cussing to Kissing 161
3 Assbook 164
4 More or Less 167
5 The Minivan 171
6 Bumper Cars 174
7 Stay out of My Tub 177
8 You've Got to Have Friends 180
9 Weekends Away 183
10 Ruby Slippers 186
11 The Best Chicken in the Pot I Ever Ate 189
Couple's Kickstarters 192
The Takeaway: On and On 197
About the Authors 199
Acknowledgments 201
Index 202