It will be 56 years for us in Feb. Was it hard? You bet!! We separated for 9 months at one point early in the marriage, a case of being too young and scared. Hubby was feeling sort of like he had lost his freedom ( worked with a bunch of single guys). I was pregnant with second child and 18 years old! The time apart was hard, but it was also good for us. We had many many battles through the years, but I was determined my kids would have a two parent home. My Mom gave me the best advice. She told me to " take care of my family, and learn to live on my husbands' income. If you need to work to put food on the table, then do so". ( at the time I really wanted an outside job so we could buy nice things like my sisters had). Her feeling was when both partners are working, then you just spend more on "things" so you have to keep working and then family time suffers." I saw that happening with my sisters , so I did the old fashion thing and didn't work. Don and I still have arguments, but, we have always worked with each other on the important things
and we raised 4 very good, responsible kids( who by the way have all been divorced!!). I know young families today have a hard time with the economy, and women have to have jobs to survive, many can't stay home, and I feel so sorry for them. But, others do it so they can have big homes that they can't afford, nice vacations, big cars, etc., and those really are very unimportant in the end. What is important is having someone who loves you, cares about your feelings, and who stands by your side when things get rough. It is much to easy to get a divorce now, no stigma attached like it use to be, so many just throw in the towel at the first disagreement. Heck, many marry thinking they will divorce if they arenT happy. And I think now so many put their own happiness ahead of everyone else, and as parents, most of that is our fault. I'm not old fashioned, honestly, but I believe that we need to bring back those old time morals and values that I was raised with, at least some of them. Too many children are suffering because of divorce. And they do suffer!! I"ve seen it with my grandchildren, and it just isn't fair!! For you young ladies, get out if you are in abusive relationships, but try real hard not to sweat the little things, and work real hard at keeping your family together, especially if you have children. My husband and I are really glad we stuck together, and we are still very much in love after 55 years.