This morning, I read this article, Relationship Advice: 10 Ways to Reduce Your Divorce Risk.
Here are their 10 Ways and mine in the parenthesis:
1. Get married after about two years of courtship (Shane and I have been dating for four years, 6 months)
2. Rethink living together (I don't agree with this one. I think living together before marriage has definitely helped...at least to me)
3. Wait until you are a little older to marry (I'm 40, Shane is 34)
4. Talk about the big issues before you get married (We have talked about the biggest issue to us, having children. We already discuss finances on a weekly basis)
5. You can argue, just don't let it turn into World War III (We argued a lot at the beginning of our relationship and we still argue but they are minute arguments and definitely not WW III)
6. Do stuff together (We already do this. We each have our own time to be by ourself or spend time with friends; but we definitely do stuff together on a weekly basis too)
7. Share the chores (This is something we do. Since I work from home; I do the majority of the chores; but he does help with the garbage and dishwasher and he does help with dinner)
8. Be as polite to each other as you are to strangers (This is something I've never thought of; but agree with. I'm going to tell him about this one tonight and see if we can incorporate it into our relationship. Don't get me wrong, we are nice to each other, just not polite as far as please and thank yous all the time)
9. Have issues? Get help! (Everyone has issues but I don't think ours are to the point of needing professional help) hahaha
10. Marry someone who wants to be married (We both want to be married or I wouldn't have said, "Yes" when he proposed)
Of course, each way went into more details in the article; but this was very good information and something to think about when I start my marriage. Or even before.
Posted by tennbrat at August 4, 2008 7:10 AM | TrackBack