Advice to women.

Last summer I read an article titled What I wish I'd known about marriage, by Kristin Armstrong, which ran in the April 2006 edition of Glamour magazine. Afterward, I tore it out and slipped it into my purse to take home, wishing that I could make copies and mail them to all my girl friends (but without the risk of being labeled a bitter, single woman). I happened across an online version of that article today, and thought I'd share it. Ms. Armstrong makes an eloquent and real statement about women and commitment, and the inclination for even the most strong, independent women to give up much of their identities in the name of love. She says,

"If I were to do things over again, I wouldn't have thrown myself so irrevocably into my new life. I would have guarded the things that made me feel like me — the places, the friends — and above all I would have spoken up about my needs. Instead, I will leave you with a lesson about how a woman can hold on to the bright, hard flame of who she is."

I like to think that a woman can be in love AND empowered. Marriage - or any relationship, really - requires both commitment and compromise. The trick is not compromising yourself.