I listened to this podcast from the NYT Modern Love column about how to sustain a long marriage. The guy's wife threw him out of the house and took him back *6 times*. He that in the end he loves her because he can't help himself, that something about her that makes him weak, something vulnerable & unconquerable.
Related Posts
Anyone want to go on a date today? 🤷🏻♀️
29 M - Any one in Montreal for a relationship?
Best Christmas things to do with a two-year-old?
Best divorce lawyer in NYC?
More Posts
Are you going to invest in Navi's Index fund ?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.




The guy's story sounds a little pathological, in my opinion. But there are some people who do seem to have a connection that transcends any logical interpretation. There's this idea that some people are just meant to be with each other, and everything that gets in the way will work itself out. My wife jokes that she and I must have known each other in previous incarnations and that explains how we can stand each other in this lifetime. Makes as much sense as anything else, I suppose.
Yeah it sounds pathological to me as well but then you hear about how 5-10 years later their marriage is so wonderful. So I think maybe there *is* something to just sticking it out over the long haul? I know of a guy who had been separated from his wife meeting 3-4 times and had failed attempts at opening his marriage twice over the course of 15 years. He said it's dysfunctional and has been so since not long after the wedding. Friends say the wife is emotionally abusive. He keeps going back. Maybe they're one of those couples?
A friend of mine's patients got divorced then got back together like 10 years later. Now my friend says they're like roommates but they're too old to look for someone else. Now the father has cancer and the mother of going all out to help him. Not sure he'd have had a partner like that if he hadn't gotten back together with the wife and mother of his children...
It still doesn't sound like a good relationship, though...
Hm I’m not sure I’d plan my life around stories like this. I met my husband 16 years ago. I’ve liked him the whole time and neither one of us have ever thrown the other one out of the house. 🤷♀️
Pro
A relationship like either of those examples is NOT the goal.
Pro
I don't want to spend a significant fraction (1/3, 1/4, etc.) of my life miserable, and I don't think I'm in the minority on that.
Also, I come from a family where some of the couples clearly had relationships that were miserable for everyone involved - and waited over 20 years to get divorced. And I can’t help but think they’d be much healthier people if they had called it quits a lot sooner and spent some time exploring why they were drawn to this crappiness so that they could resolve these issues before diving into another relationship.
Yea I am with everyone else on this one, I just don't think this is the goal. If you ask me it sounds a little codependant. You can love someone but that doesn't mean they are the right person to spend forever with. I don't want to be miserable and still stay because I love someone.
Similarly, I read recently that Michelle Obama said that she couldn't stand her husband and was miserable for 10 years. She almost left him but didn't. Ultimately is because she loves him.
How does one get there? How do you know that that guy you give your number to say a party or match with on a dating app will be the one you can't live without no matter how much they piss you off?
Or do you *not* know and it develops over time through years of shared positive experiences and obstacles overcome? If so is it worth it to get married after the age of 40 since you won't have as much time to build together and less time for shared positive memories?
Are there people who regret sticking it out, who think maybe I shouldn't have come back? Maybe this is the wrong forum for that last question as people here are presumably in the successful marriages and not the unsuccessful marriages...
This is the article he read in the podcast:
Failing in Marriage Does Not Mean Failing at Marriage
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/style/modern-love-failing-while-married-does-not-mean-failing-at-marriage.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
I didn't understand how people can spend years and years like that unhappy...