Love and Marriage.. .

Many years ago, the song was sung by the great Frank Sinatra "Love and Marriage... Love and Marriage.. go together like a horse and carriage... this I tell you brother.. you can't have one without the other" This song was sung when Marriage was forever. When vows meant something and when you said I do, you meant until death do you part.

Nowadays, marriage is something that is taken entirely too lightly... Bride and Groom, Mr and Mrs, Man and wife, husband and wife, ball and chain, old man and old woman, and many other titles... Any way you look at it, it all means the same thing... you are supposed to be in this for the long haul. For life. If this was true, why is the divorce rate so high? Why do couples feel the need to search outside of their marriage vows for someone else? Why after being together for 20 or 30 years, is divorce even possible? Because while we get married and we love each other, forever is almost impossible to achieve. My parents were married for 38 years. My dad died in 1999, if he was still alive they would be celebrating 48 this year. It breaks my heart. My mom is my ideal example of what a marriage is. A partnership. Today on AOL, I saw this couple

81st Wedding Anniversary 81 years. WOW. If I make it to 10 I will be impressed. And this is my second marriage.

I want to believe that marriage is forever, I want to believe in the fairy tale, but its hard. When you combine a family, it is a challenge to treat everyone the same. To leave the only steps in the house the ones that go up to bedrooms. Don't get me wrong, its not always horrible, most of the time can be wonderful. But also very hard. Marriage is work. Life is work. The couple married say they don't argue. I would love that. My parents first fight was in 1978 over a Christmas tree my mom wanted taken down. I never saw a fight or heard a cross word. I never heard bad words said. I never heard yelling.

Is it too much to ask for forever? Is it unrealistic to think that maybe just maybe that couple isn't just the exception to the rule?