YOB ConvoCast 061: Tom & Marshall Gossip About His Married Housemates!YOB24 February 2023
Marshall missed his first YOB retreat last fall due to his job, and Tom thinks it’s a hate crime! Tom responds to Marshall’s latest YOB blog about his straight male friends who have endured beyond their marriages to women. Marshall shares about the feelings he recently fielded watching housemate James get married, as well as catching up with old friend Ben who has a child now. Marshall also dishes about his friendship with another married housemate we’ll call “Geraldo,” along with James’ and “Geraldo’s” wives, who are also his housemates! They talk about the blessings of conflict management and how friendships may come and go through the seasons of life.
Ultimately, how does Marshall stay upbeat about friendships once those wedding vows are exchanged? Does it take practice having joy for another’s joy despite the inevitable changing friendship, or is he just special as an Enneagram Two?
When have you seen friendships grow stronger through conflict? If you’re single, is it natural for you to have joy for friends who get married, or does joy feel difficult as the friendship changes?
I’m YOB’s cofounder and editor, and I also host our two podcasts. I’ve written a couple books as Thomas Mark Zuniga, including a 2013 memoir in which I first came out. Once upon another universe I anonymously blogged about my faith and sexuality under the Xanga username, twoBeckonings. I’m an INFJ, Enneagram 4w5, and my spirit animal is the buffalo. I love to travel, and my favorite place in the world is the one where coffee and vulnerability meet. When I’m not wandering, I live in Asheville, North Carolina – the Jewel of the Blue Ridge.
Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. I seek to do that with great joy, because He is better than everything we give up! Also I want to love others in an unselfish way as Jesus taught. I currently do my best to live out that kind of love with 15 other friends on a farm near the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. I love talking about what really matters, and seeing a friend’s heart turn from pain to joy, from fear to peace, and from despair to hope! My writing tends to focus on the topic of friendships with other guys. I have never married and am currently the oldest author on YOB.