The Forever Mother: Caregiving, Community, and Learning to Let People In

Speed Dating Disasters, Self-Love Detours, and Why We Should Probably Just Start Our Own Matchmaking Service

Katie went speed dating. The men were older than advertised. One of them slipped her his number anyway — against the actual rules. And somehow, this became the perfect jumping-off point for everything. Michelle and Katie — two women in their 40s navigating the wildly weird world of midlife dating — are back for round two, and this episode goes deep. They talk about what it actually means to love yourself before you look for love from someone else (spoiler: it's not just a bumper sticker), how emotional self-regulation is the skill nobody taught us and everybody needs, and why building a secure attachment with yourself is the real foundation under every relationship you'll ever have. They also roast the apps. Extensively. With joy. And yes — by the end of this episode, they will have half-seriously proposed starting their own dating service. You'll understand why. In this episode: * Katie's speed dating recap, including the men who were definitely not her age range * Why rule-breaking romantic gestures aren't cute — they're just rule-breaking * Learning to self-regulate before you expect a partner to do it for you * Secure attachment as a personal practice, not just a relationship dynamic * The app experience: what's broken, why it's broken, and what we'd do instead * The business idea that might actually make sense If you're dating after divorce, re-entering the dating scene in your 40s or 50s, healing your attachment patterns, or just trying to figure out who you are before you find someone to be with — pull up a chair.

The Love Story Nobody Writes Songs About

What happens when a panic attack at the happiest place on earth becomes the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Mary and Kelsey tell the story of the moment that fast-tracked their bond — a full-on meltdown in the middle of Disneyland, and a friend who didn't flinch. Kelsey's calm, steady presence in that moment said everything: you are not too much, and I am not going anywhere. In this episode, Amy sits down with two platonic best friends who have built something rare — a relationship that actually feels safe. They get honest about their attachment styles (Mary is anxiously attached and married to avoidant Chad; Kelsey is single and avoidantly attached herself), and how that unlikely pairing has become one of the most clarifying relationships in Mary's life. Because sometimes the person who helps you understand your spouse... is your avoidant best friend. They dig into what emotional regulation actually looks like in real friendship, why co-regulation isn't just a couples thing, and how the people around us can either escalate our nervous system or bring it back down. Spoiler: Kelsey is very good at bringing it back down. And because these two contain multitudes — they also happen to be adventurous, outdoorsy women who can go from hiking boots to heels without skipping a beat. This one's for anyone who has found their person in an unexpected place, who has been caught mid-panic by someone who didn't make it weird, or who just needs a reminder that the right friendships can change the way you see everything — including your marriage. Kelsey Kurtis: @kelseymkurtis Kelseykurtis.com   Mary Morris Solomon- @marygold.tales www.marygoldtales.com [http://www.marygoldtales.com]   amyprieb.com [http://amyprieb.com/] insta: @amypriebtherapy facebook: amy prieb lmft

Yurtism #5: Stop Interpreting Your Partner Through Your Own Lens — They Aren't You

When your partner does something that bothers you, what's your first instinct? To ask what they meant — or to assume you already know? Most of us interpret our partner's behavior through the lens of our own personality, our own wiring, our own history. It feels like logic. If I did that, it would mean this — so that must be what it means when they do it. The problem is you are not in a relationship with yourself. You are in a relationship with someone fundamentally different from you, and that filter is going to get you into trouble almost every time. In this episode, Amy explores one of the most common — and most avoidable — sources of conflict in relationships: the moment we stop being curious about our partner and start assuming we already understand them. Spoiler: we usually don't. In this Yurtism, you'll explore: * Why interpreting your partner's behavior through your own personality is a recipe for misreading them * How our individual wiring quietly shapes the assumptions we don't even realize we're making * What it looks like to replace assumption with genuine curiosity about your partner's inner world Your partner is not a version of you. Getting that wrong is costly. Getting it right changes everything.   amyprieb.com [http://amyprieb.com/] insta: @amypriebtherapy facebook: amy prieb lmft

It's Not Nothing: One Woman's Cancer Journey Through Chemo, Community, and Coming Out the Other Side

What happens when the person who holds everything together has to let herself be held? This week, Amy sits down with Jennifer Chipperfield, who, at 53, found herself in the middle of something she couldn't manage, fix, or push through alone — a lymphoma diagnosis that interrupted life as she knew it and asked her to do the one thing that doesn't come naturally to most of us: receive. Together, long-term friends Amy and Jenni talk about what it actually looks like to go through chemotherapy while still showing up for your kids, your work, and your relationships. About the particular loneliness that can live inside a crowded room full of people who love you. About the moment you stop saying "I'm fine" — and what comes after. This conversation is about mortality without being morbid, about community without being sentimental, about friendship and how we show up for each other, and about the strange, tender territory on the other side of treatment — where the chemo is done but the uncertainty isn't.   amyprieb.com [http://amyprieb.com/] insta: @amypriebtherapy facebook: amy prieb lmft

The Forever Mother: Caregiving, Community, and Learning to Let People In

Some people become caregivers gradually. For this week's guest, it's simply always been her life. Amy sits down with Sonia Nations-Gates who has spent decades as the unwavering center of her son's world — a son with complex medical needs, a father who shows up inconsistently, and a community that shows up intermittently. She is a "forever mother," and once you hear her story, you'll understand exactly why. This conversation goes to some tender places. They talk about what it costs to manage your child's medical crisis and his father's emotional needs at the same time. About the friendships that couldn't hold the weight of what she carries and the ones that have sustained her. About the husband who said yes to all of it, and what it's meant to finally lean on someone. And about the quiet, persistent question underneath all of it: outside of being a mother and a caregiver, who am I? This episode is for anyone who has ever loved someone in a way that reorganizes your whole life around them. In this conversation, they get into: * What the "forever mother" identity really means — and what it asks of you * The particular isolation of caregiving that most people can't see from the outside * How marriages and stepfamilies get built around complexity, and where they find their limits * What it looks like when community actually shows up — and what it feels like when it doesn't * The future, and who you can talk to honestly about what it holds amyprieb.com [http://amyprieb.com/] insta: @amypriebtherapy facebook: amy prieb lmft