Dr. Laura:

My husband and I have been married for 23 years and raised six kids together.  Before we ever got married, we discussed ground rules for everything we thought would come up in our marriage, from how we wanted to raise our children to how we'd handle disagreements.  We got married in our church and we both swore that no matter what, this marriage was IT.  We would stay together, so we had better be sure to make it work.  We really made that commitment.

At times it hasn't always been easy, but we always take the last few minutes before we go to sleep to reconnect and let each other know that we are the most important person in each other's world.  We agreed right from the beginning that a stable family begins with a stable marriage.  And a stable marriage means that you put your spouse first!  It really works.

Anna