For Valentine’s Day, I wrote a piece for Everyday Health on how Eric and I stick together despite an illness that taxes both of us physically and emotionally. To read the piece, click this link. Here is the beginning ….

“In sickness and in health.”

Folks rarely think about the implication of those five words when they utter them. The wedding cake wouldn’t taste as good if a bride or groom cataloged during the nuptial ceremony all the possibilities that could happen in the future and what she or he would do in that circumstance. What happens when the “in health part” takes a major backseat to the “in sickness” vow? When the caretaker role is disproportionate to the soul mate/best friend role, resentment seeps in — and it can easily break apart the bond of married life.

I emerged from my mother’s womb depressed. So my husband knew he was marrying a person with fragile wiring. But he wasn’t prepared for the massive breakdown I experienced after the birth of our second child. After two hospital stays, seven psychiatrist, and 23 medication combinations over the period of two years, I was diagnosed with manic depression and made the gradual ascent to heath.

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