Well, of course we all know this already, but it’s nice having one’s own experiences validated by research anyway.  ;^)  Click over to Nancy Shute’s “On Parenting” blog for the full story. 

And then in response, I’ll paste in Kirk Martin of Celebrate Calm‘s response which came via his email newsletter today.  He says that yeah, duh, we all know that’s true, but:

“The purpose of marriage, of all relationships, is not happiness. What has possessed us to believe that cramming 2, 3, 4 or 5 imperfect people under one roof is somehow going to result in bliss?!”

He continues, saying:

The purpose of relationships is transformation. Relationships cause friction. Relationships force us to grow up. That friction can either result in us being worn down, resentful and irritated; or the friction can strip the crusty, gritty exterior off of us and leave us shinier and better than we were before.

Well said!