In the marriage lottery, I got EXTREMELY lucky. But I was still kind of surprised when I read about a study reported in Real Simple Magazine that was conducted by the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science". They found that of couples married over 10 years, 84% would say they are "very in love", "intensely in love" or "very intensely in love".
So often we hear the downside of relationships that go awry--from divorce, to spousal abuse all the way to seemingly innocuous benign neglect. Who knew there were so many happily married people running around?
In the same issue of Real Simple, the February issue, they also examined what were the most important traits in a spouse. I must say that Rod possesses most of them. It's not all a bed of roses, mind you. It's just that the good so far outweighs the bad. If you had to make a list of traits you would like your spouse, your friends, or say someone you had to be stranded on an island with, you might consider this a pretty good shopping list. (In no particular order...)
1. Mutual Respect
2. Gratitude
3. Helpfulness
4. Positive Outlook
5. Kindness
6. Putting Family First
7. Loyalty
8. Adaptability
9. Drive
10. Thoughtful Communication
11. Sense of Humor
This is something we should teach our kids--it should be the basis for a Health Ed class. Every single young person should have this list in mind as they think about dating and forming friendships. If the potential date is lacking wholly in one of these traits, keep looking. Another great person is out there and has all of these traits and more too numerous to recount!
I hope my nephews and nieces are paying attention...
In the same issue of Real Simple, the February issue, they also examined what were the most important traits in a spouse. I must say that Rod possesses most of them. It's not all a bed of roses, mind you. It's just that the good so far outweighs the bad. If you had to make a list of traits you would like your spouse, your friends, or say someone you had to be stranded on an island with, you might consider this a pretty good shopping list. (In no particular order...)
1. Mutual Respect
2. Gratitude
3. Helpfulness
4. Positive Outlook
5. Kindness
6. Putting Family First
7. Loyalty
8. Adaptability
9. Drive
10. Thoughtful Communication
11. Sense of Humor
This is something we should teach our kids--it should be the basis for a Health Ed class. Every single young person should have this list in mind as they think about dating and forming friendships. If the potential date is lacking wholly in one of these traits, keep looking. Another great person is out there and has all of these traits and more too numerous to recount!
I hope my nephews and nieces are paying attention...
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