Cameron Reid writes about intimacy and long-term marriage at Closer Together Press. His work draws on 27 years of real marriage — the hard parts included. Find me on Reddit: u/cameronreid_27
There is a conversation happening in most long marriages. It just isn’t the one that needs to happen. My wife and I got very good at talking around the things that mattered. We had twenty-seven years of practice. We could discuss anything, the kids, the finances, the neighbors,
I went looking for ways to spice up my marriage. What I found instead was how truly ignorant I was about human anatomy, sexual desire, deep connection, and the importance of honest communication in intimate relationships. Not a little ignorant. Profoundly, completely, embarrassingly ignorant. And I was in my late
My wife had been out of town for a few days. When she got home, we did what long married couples do. We caught up, settled back into the rhythm of the house, and made plans for the week ahead. At some point during our conversation, she said the thing
You think it’s just the two of you. It isn’t. Every person who ever said something that landed wrong. Every parent who taught you, intentionally or not, what desire was supposed to look like. Every lover who left a mark. Every classmate who said something cruel at exactly
It was October 2019. Our 21st anniversary. My wife and I were traveling together. She had a continuing education conference to attend, and we turned the trip into something more, a celebration. We found ourselves in one of the most romantic and beautiful locations in the United States. An oceanfront
I didn’t set out to become someone who listens to podcasts about sex. I was a husband in a long marriage, trying to figure out why something that should have been natural felt increasingly complicated. I had questions I didn’t know how to ask and desires I didn’
I was twelve years old when I found my older brother’s Playboy magazines. I remember it clearly. I found them hidden underneath his bed and in his closet, and I later figured out that he had a subscription. Once a month a new one would arrive, which meant new
Let me say something that will probably get me in trouble with every marriage therapist who has ever lived: scheduled date night is one of the most overrated pieces of relationship advice ever given. There. I said it. Every book, every podcast, every well-meaning friend with a good marriage
A woman posted something on Reddit recently that I couldn’t stop thinking about. She wanted her husband to want her more. She’d brought it up several times already — the passion gap, the feeling of not being pursued — and nothing had changed. So one day, half joking, she asked
There’s a specific kind of loneliness that nobody talks about. It’s not the loneliness of being alone. It’s the loneliness of being with someone you love deeply and realizing you can’t remember the last time you actually felt close to them. That’s the roommate dynamic.
You already know something is off. Maybe you read the last post in this series and nodded along a little too hard. Maybe you’ve been feeling the drift for a while but couldn’t name it. Either way, you’re here, which means you’re paying attention, and paying
Nobody warned us about this part, except maybe for my mother, who used to always tell my siblings and me, “familiarity breeds contempt.” It was one of her favorite pieces of motherly advice. We were told working from home would give us more time, more flexibility. What we got was