Committed

Committed is back for season four on April 15th. We have ten new stories of love and marriage, hope and fear, failure and success and all the other messy parts of being a human in the world right now. This season on Committed we bring you a wife who tries to write her legacy for her husband and children after she’s diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. We have the author and activist Glennon Doyle on leaving the husband of her three children for the love of her life, Abby Wambach. And we have a couple who tried so hard to blend their families and live together under one roof, but ultimately found that the secret of their success was in living apart...in houses next door to one another.We've got these stories and much, much more, including what love and commitment looks like amidst the strangeness of a pandemic. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’ve gotten so many voicemails from you that we had to run another episode of three minute love stories. This week we have a couple trying to work through their changing marriage as they adopt a foster baby born to an addicted mother. Another couple picked up their entire life and moved to Bali to open a restaurant...and, finally, a wedding singer who fell in love with a bridesmaid. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we have an update from an episode we did back in April of last year. In Season Two we talked to Samantha and her wife Laura. The two of them originally fell in love in college. They got married quickly and had four sons. Samantha was born a man, but always felt like something else, always felt like a woman. After thirteen years of marriage Samantha transitioned. When we spoke to Laura and Samantha they were navigating their new relationship as parents, partners and wives. It was an episode about what it takes to stand by your partner as your partner changes into a new person. But relationships are complicated. Marriage is complicated. Last summer the two women realized that they both needed something different from one another. I spoke to Samantha this month about what it is like now for her to navigate her life as a single lesbian woman. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have more little love stories for you...Three more stories that come from our own listeners. They’re short and sweet and all of them reminded us about the many ways we can commit to one another. In one a librarian meets a genuinely nice man online, in another moving into a camper van saves a couple’s relationship and finally two kids figure out how to make long distance work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For this episode update we're going back to a show we did with Doree and Matt in season one. Their episode was called Hope is a Dangerous Thing. When we left them Doree and Matt were trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t working for them. They were on their fifth round of IVF and they were both wearing a little thin.That episode aired in August of 2018. Doree and Matt did do that fifth round of IVF and Doree got pregnant soon after we aired...She had a baby boy, Henry, in April of last year. We talked to them last week about what it's like to finally become parents after trying for so long and what they wish they could tell the two people they were when they started this journey.Photo by Stephanie Entin. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Some of the best love stories come in small packages. That’s why we asked you, our listeners, to send us voicemails of your own love stories. We’ll be running a few of them before Season Four starts. So here are three mini love stories to tide you over until we launch Season Four in April. We’ve got a dirty dog that led to love on a camping trip, a couple that learned to meet in the middle over the course of two decades and a middle school relationship that persevered against all odds. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marriage is full of challenges and tiny victories. Five years ago our host Jo Piazza decided to test her new marriage to her husband Nick by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro as a couple. It was harder than either of them expected and had an ending no one saw coming. Jo talked about the trip and the climb on iHeart Radio's new podcast “A Way to Go,” from iHeart and Fathom. We’ve got a little bit of that conversation for you right now, hope you enjoy. For the full episode, please go to: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/awaytogo Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At the age of 26, Katherine Wolf nearly died from a brainstem stroke. She was newly married and the mother of a six month old baby boy. The doctors performed a rare and complicated 16 hour surgery and removed 60% of her cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls most motor function and many essential nerves. Katharine spent two months in a coma, When she woke up she had to relearn how to breathe, talk, eat and move her body. From then on Katherine and her husband Jay were birthed into a new couple and a new family. They’ve had to redefine absolutely everything. But what they’ve come to realize is that on the other side of suffering, you learn that some things are better because of what you've been through. No one wants terrible pain, or suffering, or tragedy to come, but it can have this tremendous effect of informing the rest of your life. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Buffy and Pat’s son Kevin passed away from a brain tumor when he was just nine years old. That was six years ago. The death of a child isn’t something you get through. It isn’t something that goes away. It’s something you live and grow with every day. And that’s...what Buffy and Pat are doing. They've walked through fire and come out alive but forever changed. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every couple we know has this fantasy of quitting their corporate jobs and finding a way to make a living doing what they love. But for most people it’s just that— a fantasy. Rich and Sara Combs have turned that fantasy into a reality. They quit their big jobs in San Francisco to renovate and rent out two properties down in Joshua Tree. Now they’re working on a second property, an inn right outside of Saguaro National Park in Arizona. They’re living the dream. But is the dream as good as everyone imagines it is? Is the reality ever as good as the fantasy? Fixing these houses has taught them how to be comfortable when things go wrong...whether it’s with a home or with their relationship. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Neal had a classic mid-life crisis on his 50th birthday. He bought a Harley, got his first tattoo, had an affair with a women twenty years his junior. But there’s more to the story than that. He’d gotten caught up in a bad business deal and was sentenced to four years in a federal state prison. He and his wife Allison got divorced.Allison was left to sell their home during the housing crisis since the great depression, take care of her ailing father and get their kids off to college.But that’s just the beginning of Allison and Neal’s story. The real story is how they found their way back to one another. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last year Brad and Matt Kirouac gave up their very comfortable and secure lives in a beautiful loft in a gorgeous neighborhood in Chicago to live as nomads in an RV with the goal of visiting all of 61 the country’s national parks. Their new lifestyle challenges every single part of their relationships and they’ve been forced to dig deep to see if they really want to be in this together. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Military wives are taught early on how to live without their soldiers. During their two decade marriage Anna and Mike have moved 12 times for Mike’s job as a lieutenant colonel in the army, all while giving birth to and raising seven kids. Sometimes Mike is with the family but sometimes he’s deployed far away in a war zone, place where it’s difficult to talk, places where Anna is often scared for his life. The distance makes you realize what's important very quickly. This is a story of how Anna makes their family work without Mike and how they've found ways to build a life together all over the world while Mike serves his country. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a story of boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl, marries girl. But then…..girl falls in love with another girl. And boy….well he stays in the picture. We hear a lot more about polyamory these days than we used to, but we don’t hear enough about how it actually works, how a family can be crafted with three loving and consensual adults. Today Alex, Paul and Jackie live together and raise a child together and they want the world to know that this is their normal. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Erica and Spencer met in an online widow support group. They’d both recently lost their spouses. Within months they were married and working to blend their eleven kids together into one family. Today’s episode is about blending families, learning to parent someone else’s children and finding ways to honor the spouse that came before you. It’s never going to be easy or perfect. It’s a journey and a beautiful one. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After Alexei Brovarnik received a K-1 visa he had 90 days to marry his American fiance Loren. The entire engagement and lead up to their wedding was captured by the reality television show 90 Day Fiance on TLC. For better or worse they lived the beginning of their marriage under a media microscope, enduring constant criticism and judgement and watching their most intimate moments, good and bad, played back to them on the small screen and the Internet. It’s so easy to judge someone else’s marriage, especially a marriage that we’re watching unfold on television, like a soap opera. But Loren and Alex have no regrets about putting it all out there for everyone to see. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 2017 a doctor told Brian Wallach he might only have six months left to live. He was only 37, but he’d started having trouble grasping a pen. His hands would shake. His wife Sandra was the one who told him he had to see a doctor. That’s when he learned he had ALS. Instead of turning inwards Sandra and Brian, both former Obama staffers, are using their unique skills from working on campaigns, as lawyers and with nonprofits to try to raise $100 million for ALS research in the hopes of finding a cure to save Brian’s life. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Only 1% of the people who jump off of the Golden Gate Bridge survive. Kevin Hines was that 1%. From the moment his feet left the bridge he knew he didn’t want to die. Surviving that leap sent him into a psychiatric ward. That’s where he met his wife Margaret. She loved him for his honesty and his bravery and how he wasn’t afraid to show the parts of him that were still broken. Kevin still lives with mental illness. He still lives with suicidal inclinations. But every time those thoughts even begin to creep into his brain he turns to Margaret and says—“I need help now.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Committed is back for season 3! On October 9th host Jo Piazza will once again peel back the curtain on a marriage to bring you the intimate and raw stories of couples trying to make it work.This season, Jo talks with a couple reeling from a fatal diagnosis of ALS, two husbands who sold their home for a nomadic life on the open road living in an RV, a husband and wife who decided to invite another woman into their marriage, a couple who broadcast their engagement to the world on the show 90 Day Fiance, and many more. So join us for season 3. We’re all still figuring this out… together. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this bonus episode, Jo shares an excerpt from her novel, How to Be Married, that inspired this podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We followed Sarah and her fiancé Spider for nine months, through their wedding planning, trying to have a baby, a miscarriage and through Spider’s detention with ICE just a few months before their wedding. Sarah depends on Spider for more than love and emotional support. She’s legally blind and she relies on Spider to help her get through her day. She can’t drive. There aren’t many jobs she can do. Sarah and Spider have always been nervous about Spider’s immigration status but it took on a new weight and meaning once they got engaged and started to plan to have a family. They decided they wouldn’t let Spider’s status stop them from having a family. This is their journey to try to figure out how to live in a constant state of limbo. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ashley DiBella is so proud of her husband Juan and his work. She wishes she could sing it from the rooftops, but she can’t because a lot of people have very strong opinions about what Juan does. Now Ashley wants to set the record straight about what it’s really like to be married to a border patrol agent, the dangers her husband faces, the things she’s scared of and the good things he does that aren’t usually mentioned by the media. This is the first episode in our two part season finale. The first part is what it’s like to be married to a border patrol agent. The second is what it’s like to be in love with and want to marry someone who crosses the border illegally. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Shannon is a survivor. As a child she was repeatedly abused and raped. She became pregnant by her rapist at age 12. She wanted to commit suicide as a teenager. All of the trauma made her believe she wasn't capable of love. She constantly felt like she had to earn love, affection and protection. And then she met Lee in college. Lee had never experienced abuse or trauma, but he knew he wanted to make Shannon feel safe and loved. Today Shannon and Lee are married with six children. This is their story of strength and bravery, of what it takes to rebuild your life and embrace love, marriage and parenthood after a childhood of abuse and assault. This is a story about what it takes to be a partner who learns how to make that survivor feel safe and how to build a family that looks nothing like the family you grew up with. For a long time Shannon wasn’t sure if she even wanted kids. Growing up the way she had was enough to make her think she might not be able to be the kind of parent she wanted to be. But meeting Lee and falling in love with him changed that. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What’s it like to be married to a famous professional athlete. Samantha Didn’t know much about professional race car driving when she met the bad boy NASCAR star Kyle Busch. But after they fell in love she was thrust into the wild traveling circus of NASCAR. It wasn’t part of her plan. But real life isn’t about plans. Kyle and Samatha were about to embark on an incredible journey of love, marriage, infertility and hope. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Caroline Van Hemert and her husband Pat were in their mid-thirties and the realities of adulthood catching up with them. They knew they wanted to take a grand adventure before starting a family so the pair set off on a six month, 4,000 mile expedition from the Pacific rainforest to the Arctic coast, a journey that was beautiful, harrowing and, at times, life-threatening. And in many ways that grand trip prepared Pat and Caroline to take care of each other and themselves even better before having their two sons. This is a story of love and adventure and the places where the two find one another. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Vause and Kayden were teenagers when they met and fell in love. Today they're the first queer married couple to work together in a legal brothel. This is how they found their way to a healthy marriage, through communication, setting boundaries and finding careers that give them confidence and self-worth. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Larry and Linda Drain have been forced to separate after 33 years of marriage so that Linda can get the healthcare benefits she needs to save her life.Linda has a severe form of epilepsy and the medications that help keep her potentially deadly seizures at bay cost thousands of dollars per month. But if they stay married they're in a sort of purgatory where they don't qualify for subsidized benefits and can't afford private insurance. And so now Larry and Linda have no choice but to live on opposite sides of the city. Sometimes they can't even afford gas to see one another. This is how they're dealing with the intense emptiness of being forced to live apart from the person you love the most. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Levi and Jared are ready to get engaged. But Levi has been keeping his relationship with Jared a secret from his family and that has to change if they want to move forward. This is a story about being honest, completely and radically honest, with yourself and the people you love before you get married.I asked Levi if he was scared, scared to tell his story in such a public way, if he wanted to use a pseudonym. He didn't. He’s trying so hard to be brave, to be honest. Levi wants to tell his love story now....all of it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Raakhee and Agan had finally gotten the exact life they wanted. Then their five month old daughter was diagnosed with cancer. That could have broken them, but instead it made them and their relationship so much stronger. Raakhee’s thoughts on gratitude and embracing adversity are exactly the kinds of things we should all try to remember on our own good days and bad. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Laura and her husband met in college. They got married quickly and had four sons. Laura’s husband was born a man, but always felt like something else, always felt like a woman. After thirteen years of marriage Laura's husband transitioned into a woman named Samantha. Now Laura and Samantha are navigating their new relationship as parents, partners and wives. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Allison was five months pregnant when her husband Dave had a stroke on the plane on the way to their Hawaiian babymoon. Their entire lives changed in the blink of an eye. Allison had no idea whether her husband would survive this traumatic brain injury, and if he didn't survive if he would ever be the same. She began to write him letters in the hopes that he would one day be able to read them with her and their daughter. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re back, baby! On April 11th Committed is coming back for Season Two. Get ready to believe in love all over again as host Jo Piazza interviews couples navigating the good, the bad, the messy, the wonderful and sometimes the hilarious —-often all in the same story. As she did in season one, Piazza will cover an array of poignant and timely topics such as coping with a spouse stricken with a sudden illness, an engagement put in limbo because of immigration status, watching a husband transition to a new gender, processing the news that a newborn baby is diagnosed with a terminally ill disease, adjusting to marrying a famous person, coping with sex addiction, navigating marriage in a brothel and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This Valentine’s Day we want to think about celebrating marriage for more than just one day. A marriage is ongoing. It’s a collaboration, an adventure. This week we have two bonus love stories, a collaboration and an adventure. We have a couple who met in Antarctica and has spent the majority of their marriage traveling to one of the most hostile environments on Earth...we’ll meet Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarehli who collaborated on one of this year’s most lauded Academy Award winning documentaries, Free Solo. Their stories are incredible examples of partnerships that continue through the ups and the downs of creating something beautiful together. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Some of the very best love stories come in small packages. Last year we asked all of you to tell us your own stories in three minutes or less, and let me tell you a lot can happen in three minutes. You can fall in love with someone in three minutes. You can fall out of love in three minutes. While we're working on Season Two we wanted to share a few of these three-minute love stories with you. In them, you are going to meet Colleen and Sam who fell for each other when they were just 15 years old, got married, and figured out how to fall in love again after Sam had an affair. You’ll meet Shannon, who talks about what it's like to support your spouse when they decide to do one of the most challenging things in the world. And finally we'll hear from Christie, on how her marriage has evolved and persevered through her daughter’s special needs diagnoses. All of these stories could have been full episodes, but there is something special about boiling them down to their essence. The essence of a marriage. So, take about 15 minutes, settle back, and enjoy!Leave your committed story at 404-996-1173 Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The actor Nico Tortorella plays a sexy heartthrob on the romantic comedy television show Younger. Nico's real life love story with fitness star Bethany Meyers is so much more interesting. Bethany and Nico are both non-binary, queer and in a polyamorous marriage. This special bonus episode will have you questioning everything you think you know about how we define a marriage, why we choose monogamy and how we build our own families. Nico and Bethany are so open and honest about how they got where they are today after twelve years of on and off dating and sexual exploration. We could have held onto this one for season two, but it was just too good for us to wait! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Buddy Woodall is serving three life sentences for murder. In January he'll celebrate his 22nd wedding anniversary to his wife Kristy.When Buddy was sentenced he asked Kristy to divorce him, he begged her to divorce him. She refused. She says she will stay with him until the very end. This is their love story. It starts when they were 15 years old and Kristy hit Buddy in the head with a volleyball in gym class. It takes them through the difficult early days of their marriage when they were just trying to make ends meet and it follows them through Buddy's arrest, his trial, his sentencing and now his time in Telfair State Prison. Buddy and Kristy believe they have a love that transcends the prison walls. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Carol is 25. Her husband John is 51. They got married when she was just 21 and had plans to travel, buy a house, start a family. Four months after their wedding John was diagnosed with stage four gastrointestinal cancer. Carol quit college and started working full-time to pay John’s medical bills. They struggle every month to take care of all the expenses. She went from being a newlywed to being a caretaker in the blink of an eye. John’s doctors have told him that he has less than a year to live. For now, they’re trying to make every moment count. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Natalie was in junior high when she first met Brandon. He was the father of one of her friends. Fast forward 15 years, Natalie and Brandon become a couple and they’re forced to consider how this might devastate their families and their entire lives. Today, as they plan their wedding, they’re dealing with the realities of their age difference—all of the judgements and stereotypes that come when a younger woman is married to a much older man. People ask Brandon if Natalie is his daughter. They judge her, silently and out loud about her motives for marrying someone who is older, but is also wealthier. They’re both still figuring it out. This is their story. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when a liberal falls in love with a conservative..... On the eve of this wildly contentious election day we wanted to bring you a short episode that proves love can cross the aisle. When Rick and Jeanne met in the seventies Jeanne was a liberal psychoanalyst and Rick was a writer for the National Review and William F. Buckley. Over the past forty years they've learned how to live with the other side. Their marriage and love story offers us advice for how we can all cross the aisle. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan sold Brittany some bad heroin. Then they reconnected in rehab and it was love at...second sight. But both of them put their relationship ahead of their recovery. They imagined that doing drugs together would be the best high they'd ever had. So they bought $500 of dope and checked into a motel outside of Augusta. Within days they'd both overdosed. Ryan couldn't believe he had nearly killed the person he loved most in the entire world. In order to ever be together again, they had to give one another up. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kaitlyn Kiely hates it when people tell her that her fiancé Matt Wetherbee is so lucky to have her. "I'm lucky to have him," she says. Matt was in an accident just two days before he planned to propose. It left him completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. He vowed that he wouldn't propose to Kaitlyn until he could do it on his own. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most marriages don’t survive more than a few years after losing a child to violence. Fred and Maria Wright have had dark days since their son Jerry was murdered in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in 2016. Two years later there are days when they still can’t even leave the house. This is the story of two people forced to confront the worst thing that can happen to parents and finding a way through the darkness together. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mickey was 14 when she found out she was pregnant. She was 15 and Matt was 17 when they had their first baby. A year later, Mickey's parents emancipated her so she could marry Matt. Over the next few years, they had two more kids, got jobs and lost jobs, bought a house and lost a house, and then divorced in their early twenties.They sowed their wild oats. They did all the things they couldn't do because they got married when they were just babies. Then, three years later, after Mickey had a health scare and Matt stepped in to help, they both ended up falling in love again...with each other. Mickey and Matt's story is unique because of how young they were when they first got married, but their story speaks to a larger universal truth: marriage is tough and sometimes you have to grow into yourself as a person before you can have a successful marriage. While interviewing them, it was easy to see that Mickey and Matt always cared for one another, even when they were apart. They just had to grow up a little to make the marriage part work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Abbott Jones fell for a mystery woman who called herself Lauren the first time she tried online dating. Her friends told her that Lauren was probably a “shady lady.” It turns out Lauren did have a secret. She was Miss. America. When Deidre Downs Gunn walked down the aisle to marry Abbott Jones 13 months later she would be the first Miss. America in history to marry a woman. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp got engaged in Tahiti before they set off to sail across the Pacific Ocean. Only one of them made it to land. This is a story of bravery and survival and a love than transcends life and death. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every couple has a career fantasy. Bestselling novelist Emma Straub and her husband Mike made theirs happen when they opened their bookstore Books Are Magic. Opening a bookstore after being together for 16 years was like having another baby and it has completely changed their marriage. This is how they made it happen. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark’s lovely wife Giulia has been in the psych ward three times since they got married right after college. You wouldn’t know it to look at her or to talk to her. When Mark first saw Giulia when they were freshman at Georgetown he thought of her as the exotic Italian girl he would be in love with for the rest of his life. Now it’s 18 years, three hospitalizations and two children later and their family’s motto is “We’re all in this together.” This is a story about hope as much as it’s about the ways mental illness can shape and shift a marriage. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The pastors Vanessa Brown and Twanna Gause met as choir girls when they were teenagers. They became best friends. Both of them considered marrying men they didn’t love just to make other people happy. It took 30 years for these two women to find their way back to each other. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Nora’s husband died of a brain tumor she had a plan. She’d adopt more kids. She’d date. But she wouldn’t fall in love again. She wouldn’t have another grand love story. But then lightning struck. Along came Matthew, a handsome divorcee who made her snort wine through her nose when he fell out of his chair at a bonfire. Finding someone new was easier than she thought, figuring out how to make it all work...that was a lot harder. This is the episode for everyone who has asked us whether they can love again after losing love. Sometimes the answer is yes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Nora found out her boyfriend Aaron had a brain tumor she told him they were getting married. They lived their lives like Aaron wasn’t dying. They had a baby, binge watched Netflix, had lazy Sunday barbecues with friends. This is a story of how you love when you know the person you love won’t always be around. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.