Many couples face the decision about whether to stay together or to part ways. Once you have decided to stay together, then what?

Is the other half always happy?

If half of all marriages don't make it, then half of all marriages do make it (my high school math teacher would be so proud).

The easy assumption to make is that 100 percent of the people in marriages that stay together are happy. A more accurate guess might be 15 percent to 20 percent of those that stay together are happy.

The key question here is how the partners want the marriage to be.

Friends of mine recently built a house. An amazing amount of detail, planning and time went into the design of their home.

What would a marriage be like if that much attention was regularly given to putting it all together?

Key areas to consider

How can you teach each other to be the other's partner? It's the job of each person lo teach their spouse how to be his or her partner. The hang up here is simply silly human pride.

How teachable are you in this area?

What is currently in your relationship that you would like not to be there?

What is currently not in your relationship that you would like to be there?

If you could create a blue print for your relationship, what would it look like?

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