Thursday, July 31, 2008

Living together before marriage?


USA Today wrote an article about non-married couples living together and the divorce rate in "Living Together No Longer 'Playing House'". Recently, studies show that divorce rates are lower for couples choosing to live together before marriage.

After reading this short article, I'm actually a bit shocked. I think every marriage has many diverse tangents and angles that affect every couple differently. In my experience, my soon-to-be-ex-husband and I did not move in together until we were married. And ta-da, our marriage ended in divorce. There is no formula as to what makes marriage last, it just has to endure many obstacles that sometimes cannot be hurdled.

My advice: follow your intuition and believe in what your heart tells you. Sometimes it is extremely hard to abstain from allowing someone else to make your decisions, but in the end, it's you who you are left with. Reading some statistic that says cohabitation is right or wrong for a marriage is no way of measuring this outcome - ask anyone who's been divorced!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

“A dog’s life?”

My husband just doesn’t understand… Our family dog, Frankie, was so sick today that my daughter and I had to take him to the vet. All he could do was complain about the cleaning and vet bills. How can he be so cold? This just confirmed my decision to divorce. My only worry now is how Judy will take it. How can I make sure she understands that we still care about each other and her when we are getting a divorce?

Monday, July 7, 2008

Wedding weekend...


This weekend I not only celebrated the Fourth of July, I also attended my niece’s wedding. She resembled an angel in white, gliding down the aisle to her future husband. The synagogue was packed with a crowd of 600 guests, making me grateful for the presence of my soon-to-be-ex-husband. We watched as our daughter, a flowergirl, smiled to us in the crowd. She looked so proud to be in the wedding party. That was definitely the highlight of my weekend. I gave the only advice I could – keep the spontaneity between you – and always put your friendship on the front burner. What would your advice have been?