Our guest, Dan, has learned that making marriage and love last is an “act of will”. Dan met his wife 20 years ago on e-Harmony when they were both 58 and divorced. He fell in love with her and her artwork (and her artwork, incidentally, is how Samantha met Dan and convinced him to join us on RBL). Despite him living in Alabama and she in Michigan, they worked it out and are still working it out today. Dan shares that, at 78, he’s grateful for the opportunity to reflect on his past relationships and is learning to understand how his expectations of marriage and partnership perhaps did not serve him, his partners, or his relationships, well in the past. At this point in his life and his marriage he’s learned that a happy marriage doesn’t mean that you both have to be happy all the time and have identical thoughts and interests.

Samantha and Cathy are both single, over 50 and living in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, Rust Belt, USA. They have lots of feelings, thoughts and questions about love, friendship, relationships, family, single life, dating and more…

Samantha is a master’s level independently licensed clinical social worker supervisor, licensed chemical dependency counselor supervisor and DBT-Lineham Board Certified Therapist with over 20 years of experience in field of mental health therapy. She has two children.

Cathy is a program manager in a local healthcare system and is a certified yoga instructor and coach. She has four children.

Subscribe and tune in to hear their stories and conversations about life and relationships. Find and follow Rust Belt Love on Instagram @RBLovePod

Podcast music: Outside Friend https://on.soundcloud.com/W197DLsn7WDGrJDo9

Podcast artwork: Good Parts @goodpartscle