What is important to ensure long-term success in marriage?

Mutuality. Every good marriage has a feeling of mutual interest and benefit. It’s a partnership, but I don’t care for the word; it doesn’t quite catch the meaning. No matter the language, it’s a feeling of oneness that grows with time. It’s not something that you can organize and plan. It just happens. It’s not an ingredient. It’s the product.

What are the ingredients? Respect for one another. Tolerance and forgiveness. Everyone makes mistakes or has a bad attitude about something from time to time. Faith. Faith that your partner is devoted to you and will do the right thing. Each of us could add to the list and it would be a long one. But there is no formula. I looked around the internet using various search terms, like “What makes a good marriage?” It wasn’t at all helpful. It was a bunch of lists that I found tedious. 

The thing I miss most about Marianne is that she gave me a reason to be. She gave my life purpose. I’m a people person and I sorely miss having someone to invest in, to be devoted to.