Getting It Right the First Time

A healthy marriage is the result of much more than a stroke of good fortune, the accidental meeting of two "soul mates," or a conscious commitment to stay together no matter what. Studies have found that romantic, passionate love is often just a memory by the wedding, or within the first year of marriage. Creating an intimate, satisfying, and stable marriage is by no means easy or guaranteed--it requires thought, communication, planning, and true commitment to each other (though luck and compati