to do or don't

It seems like people are endlessly trying to quantify what makes a marriage last and what prompts a marriage to fail. I don't really think it's that simple... There are some things that only a stranger can observe about your relationship, and some things that nobody else will ever grasp or understand.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE56D1RK20090714

This article is a little depressing for me, with a hubby who is older, with children from a previous (failed) marriage. These researchers would claim that we are doomed to fail, but obviously I don't think so.

In any case, I think it's fascinating how much we are willing to do to quantify what makes a good marriage with research and statistics, but sometimes we're so unwilling to do the simple (ok maybe difficult) things that keep a marriage viable, like communicate well. I do this myself sometimes, so it's not shocking, just telling.

Not trying to make a point about culture at-large, just musing to myself about where this all fits in the marriage debate.

Julie Pickett-Hall