There is so much poison in the situations you describe. I cannot imagine willingly walking into a relationship like that. Perhaps the first steps were where the error occurred. Do couples take enough time to know one another before the commercialized excitement of marriage. It is such a business, a religious construct, that I wonder how many actually want to grow old with that person. How many want to be the one they want to hold up and help up that high step, or wash them when their minds have gone. I believe there is too much infatuation in the wedding dream. It should be entered into out of love and respect for a journey together and maintained in total honesty.

The trappings of a fancy wedding fall away quickly. I feel sadness for those trapped by a misguided infatuation.

Do parents or school systems provide guidance in relationships? Are humanities or social skills studied or are all students merely pushed through a system designed to form them into an other cog in the industrial wheel?

Forty years of togetherness and I still publish poems to her on Medium. Each morning one should look at one's partner with wonder -- As Socrates said, ' Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.'

Thank you for the article