Esther Perel

And we've sort of realized in the discussion, they sort of fall under three categories.

We think intimacy, trust, and then workplace relationships.

So, so this is, I want to ask a question about my relationship and I have the permission of my wife, Penny, um,

to do so.

For context, Penny and I have been married since 2019.

We now have three kids aged nine, six and three.

We're on a slightly different parenting journey to everyone else or to a lot of people.

We have a neurodivergent child, just for context.

When Penny and I first met, it became very obvious very early on that she didn't like affection as much as I did.

If it was up to me, we would hold hands making the dinner.

I love

Affection, not that much, but I love affection.

I remember very early on in the relationship saying to her as a passing comment, I said, how good is spooning, like just hugging in bed?

And she said, oh, no, I don't like that at all.

And I remember thinking, oh, gosh, that's disappointing.

That's something I like doing.

And I remember thinking early on in the relationship, well –

Maybe I don't need affection as much as I think I do, or maybe she'll change over time and then she'll grow to really like it because we'll be so in love and it'll be great.

But my main thought was maybe I don't really need it that much.

We've been through some really challenging stuff with our family dynamics, one of them being parenting a neurodivergent child.