I watched a movie last night that featured a couple with a lovely relationship. The husband’s son from a previous relationship spent the summer with them, and when the son returned home to his biological mother, the father was deeply missing his son. 

Rather than listen to the father’s anguish and desire to be closer to his son, the wife became entrenched in her position about why she would never move. The dialogue was painful to watch as each spouse attacked the other for twenty minutes. There were moments when either spouse could have repaired the divisiveness, but they were unable to sustain these changes.

This couple needed to have a different conversation about the issue. The husband needed to share his pain. The wife needed to discuss the importance of her work and social connections in their current location. Rather than attack each other, both needed to express themselves and be heard. They needed to have a different conversation.