Harper,

By trying to cheer your wife up, you are not validating her feelings of isolation and depression. Wives need to have their feelings validated.

In Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus it talks about this fundamental difference between men and women. Women just want to talk to their husbands or boyfriends and have them listen. Men, when they hear their beloved women having a problem their first instinct is to want to fix it. Women just want them to listen and understand.

Has Charlotte always lived in a small town?

My husband and I have been living in a small town for going on five years, and I hate it. He loves it! It has almost ended our marriage of almost 35 years.

EJ