Originally Posted by
Summerpeach 
My ex and I didn't live together, but we did a lot of "normal couples" things. We would always be out doing fun things together. My ex was really fun to go out with.
So don't be fooled, even when you see other couples out doing fun things, there is always things you don't see as well.
Truly, every couple has their issues. No one is immune to troubles.
This.
I was part of one of those "other couples".
We'd got to Home Depot all the time to pick up things HE wanted for the apartment. He always insisted I had to be next to him 100% of the time, so he refused to go alone.
When we went to dinner he wouldn't order a drink at all (or occasionally one shot of Seagram's Seven or Sambucca). Sometimes we even enjoyed dinner (when he wasn't already drunk when we arrived). Most times you couldn't tell he was an alcoholic, although there were a few really nice dinners that we went to where it was obvious. (I drove, he didn't eat anything, lectured me the whole time, etc.)
There was the nice bus tour we went on where he berated me all lunch, but nobody except the people at our table noticed. Everyone was telling me what a nice couple we were.
I guess in short, appearances can be deceiving. I think everyone longs for a "normal" relationship... What we view as normal from the outside looking in depends upon what we were stuck in.