The Three A's

My mom was pretty upfront with me about how hard marriage can be. But she still believed in it as the best situation for everyone to learn how to get along and sacrifice and for the children to have that stability. She said that she felt like there were only three reasons to get divorced, and they all start with "A" -- Abuse, Adultery, and Addiction.

She said that even though "Annoyance" starts with A, it's not a good reason! Learning to put things in perspective and love the man you married is one of the great lessons of life. If he tells goofy jokes, tickles you a little too often, has stinky feet, or other minor things, choose to love him in spite of him. Focus on the good.
​
But if he is abusive -- physically, verbally, sexually -- then exit that marriage! If he commits adultery, let him go. If he is not willing to go through addiction recovery programs and stick with those commitments, then dissolve your commitment to him. Even though divorce is difficult, your children will benefit from moving away from this environment. If you're having a hard time doing it for your own sake, do it for your children's sake. You don't want them to learn from and follow this kind of bad example and treat their future families in these kind of disrespectful ways, too.

---