Nonsense! It is the proud plaque which clogs the heart of matrimony! /s

All jokes aside, thank you for writing this important, timely story Laurel.

I may be biased here with a public health background, but one of my main research interests over the past few years is the longitudinal study of the comprehensive effects of the pandemic.

These include second- and higher-order effects ranging from longterm unemployment, to inward continental migration, to post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PSAC), AKA "Long COVID", on working families ("working" here defined in the necessarily political "working class" Marxist theoretical sense of a wage-seeking, labor-supplying proletariat.)

I'm not one for post hoc fallacy, nor causal oversimplification, nor hasty generalization, but the multivariate perfect storm and subsequent economic crises (quantitative easing and hyperinflation 2020-2021, accelerated interest rate hikes 2022-present, potential credit crunch and hard landing recession amid ongoing bank failure and contagion risk [see UBS-Credit Suisse]) certainly make a strong argument for the battered and bloodied household unit--in whichever form this takes, from single taxpayers, to single mothers, to blended, multigenerational families, hell even bicoastal influencer "houses"--conducting an honest, critical re-examination of microeconomic management, childrearing/elder care, and domestic equity.