I used to believe that when I heard it. I remember my parents arguing. I saw my mom and step-dad argue. Every relationship I’d experienced had some degree of conflict..from minor verbal conflicts with raised voices to some major physical altercations. I believed all couples fought it out from time to time. It was ‘normal’.

Because I believed it was normal for so long, it is what I attracted. It is what attracted me. It is what I accepted and expected. It, after all, is what is normal. Then I met him. A guy who didn’t believe conflict was O.K. A guy who didn’t raise his voice or argue when we clashed on ideas. A guy who talked things through. A guy who didn’t punch walls or me. FastFwd ► We toasted our first wedding anniversary yesterday.