Marriage (The Remix) ft. Troy & Jen Kelly

It’s been way too long since we’ve recorded an episode! Life has been crazy but we want to share an update. We shared our experience with parental alienation in episode 7. In this sequel, we discuss how our situation has evolved and how alienation can impact kids/adults in the long run. 

Modeling a healthy marriage is important for all children. In a blended family, when kids have previously witnessed a failed and possibly unhealthy marriage, it’s more important than ever.
Listen in as we talk about how we strive to show our kids a loving, respectful partnership and model the kind of marriage that we wish for our children someday. 

Guilt can be considered a basic emotion that we all experience. In stepfamilies, guilt can come from many unexpected places, such as trying to keep everything fair or not having a relationship with your partners ex. Listen in as we discuss how guilt has shown up in our stepfamily through the years in oh-so-many ways! 

Do you ever feel like you’re the only responsible one? Us too!! Join us for our vent session as we discuss how being the only “responsible parties” while raising teenagers and taking care of elderly parent can be overwhelming and frustrating. 

Happy love month! We are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary this month! February is such a special month for us so we’re throwing it back and talking about how we met and we’ll take you through what happened on our wedding day. Love is what it’s all about! 

Communication with the ex can be taxing, to say the least. Dealing with it is all about boundaries and your mindset.  Listen as we discuss the evolution of our communication boundaries. 

We had fun with this one. It was recorded after a few drinks so the giggles may have grabbed hold. We recap 2021 and talk about what we are looking forward to in 2022…and beyond. 

In this episode we discuss how it has impacted  and continues to impact our kids when their bio parents are absent or inconsistent. We also discuss how Jen’s life without a father, shaped her future. 

We decided early on in our marriage that we would not try to have an “ours baby”.  That doesn’t mean we haven’t thought about what it would be like to have a child together. Listen in as we revisit some of those conversations and talk about whether or not we made the right decision. 

Blending isn’t just for the stepparents and step kids. When you remarry and start a new family, there’s also the issue of blending with the extended family. There can be feelings of loss, loyalties and issues with acceptance. Listen as we dive into our experience blending our extended families.