Building a Marriage That Lasts

So you folks were writing during the whole time I was off, and I was reading.

And this one just...

I don't even know what to say.

Barbara.

Let me read it instead of talking about it or around it.

"Dear Dr. Laura, you have taught me so much.

How to be a loving mother, how to be a girlfriend-wife to my second husband, how to be a good mother-in-law, how to be honest and clear in my communication, and so much more.

I'm 58, the mother of three homely children and six even homelier grandchildren.

During my 58 years of life, I have had a lot of success, but there are also things I screwed up royally.

One of my royal screw-ups was getting married at 19.

I was naive, lacking wisdom, too immature to know how to pick wisely for a lifelong successful marriage.

We divorced after 34 years of marriage.

Obviously, I didn't have Dr. Laura in my life when I was 19.

But fortunately, I found you later on SiriusXM.

So thanks to your advice, I did not divorce until my youngest child completed college and was out on her own.

I chose to put my children first above my own happiness.

My children were worth the years spent being nice [laughs] and creating a calm, secure home for them where they felt loved and protected by two parents, even though it was a lonely marriage for me.

A few years after the divorce, a mutual friend introduced me to a gentleman who was also divorced like me.

He had three grown kids, but he had been married and divorced three times.

I saw his failures as a huge red flag.

By this time, I had Dr. Laura in my life every day, and I knew what you would say about this.

So with caution, we began to date, but you were the constant nagging voice in my head, the prominent tap of common sense on my shoulder.

I could hear your words, '70% of second marriages with kids fail.' I was genuinely scared to death of having a second failed marriage, and honestly, I didn't want to be anybody's fourth wife.

Over the next two years, I broke up with him five times.

I'm glad he did not hold it against me, but I'm sure his family thought I was a nutcase.