Our relationship seems to be doing great lately, so let's introduce some politics! First we dig into an important relationship milestone, how unprepared everyone is for parenting and stepparenting, and the formation of some satisfying therapy goals. Hot on the heels of relationship progress comes a rousing discussion of public education, climate change, and Why The Left Is Destroying The World TeeEm. We wrap up with the chicken-egg scenario of why my kinks exist.

Welcome back to AYWMRN! This week we catch you up on last week's episode's lost half, discuss my trip home and what I learned, and ponder children's autonomy in a custody situation. We also spend a lot of time talking about the infamous ex-wife in an attempt to understand their past relationship and humanize her so I can stop disliking her for the good of both the child and myself.

Join us for a short episode, in which we get to record right next to each other! Tonight we talk about recent therapy, tell each other that no one's opinion counts, try to get some information about my man's mom, and talk fears about financial insecurity. 

In this special-edition, one-of-kind AYWMRN episode, our hometown heroes have a recording issue and lose the first half of the podcast to the void. RIP 30 minutes of meaningful family discussion. But here's the surviving second half, in which we visit the issues of family violence, actual change as a human being, and being high in therapy! True to form, at one point I feel ashamed and cry. Gotta make sure we hit all the bases, even in half the time.

This late episode is brought to you by the Madonna/Whore Complex, Freud's "idiocy," daddy issues x 2, and calling out sick from daycare. Hear me dawn over my Daddy and embarrass him by talking about sexting while he was out of town! Learning to ride a bike is really hard. Don't push your kids down a hill, guys.

We regret to inform you that I continue to sound like I have BPD in this episode. First off, we had a super bomb weekend together full of ~being a family~. Second, we've now been doing the dating thing for half a year. On topic #2: when does requesting verbal affirmation of a relationship become unreasonable? Who's crazy? I might be crazy. Bonus content at the end includes actual resolution/IRL discussion of the podcast topics before we turned the recording off.

Short episode special, coming up! We narrate our first ad/solicitation email, talk kitchen simulators that help you hate your spouse for 0 profit, and try to figure out how to be a consistent support for a child when you don't live with them. Listen to us try to figure out what kind of place I should have in the Loved Child's life before we can move in together and figure out family dynamics. Roles are hard.

Hold on to your butts because this episode is packed. We start slow with eating disorders, ramp up to substance abuse and self-harm, move into a rousing discussion of parental trustworthiness, and end on a question of How To Kink Fulfillingly. I play therapist for a little bit and get into what my dude wishes he had gotten from his father, and we set the stage to pick apart more of his family at a later date.

This weeeeeeek we come to you late with some more trauma discussion! The female half of AYWMRN is super used to abuse because just about every one of her close friends grew up with it too. We also get into some parenting and talk about the responsibility of sharing the burden. Boyfriend asks me to set fewer alarms and it goes way better than expected. What a time to be alive.

This episode returns to our normal, non-shitty communication process! In 018, we discuss therapy breakthroughs, the value of learning lessons on your own vs. being told to learn them, and the absolutely novel concept of not enmeshing yourself in family interactions that aren't even yours. Cortisol and the feeling of danger that accompany emotional trauma make an appearance, as do the ideas of being a "fixer" and genuine appreciation of my boyfriend's innate empathy.