Originally Posted by
Dazedandconfus 
I was with my husband for 15 years before I married him. He was in recovery. He had a few minor slips, it’s just in the last few years the true madness has shown itself, thus the divorce.
Relationships are so complex that generalizing can be risky. People also change over time, so having a lot of knowledge about the other person is not a fail-safe precaution either. Normal people change. We can make some generalizations about alcoholics, however. I think there are only two changes related specifically to alcoholism. He will get worse or he might stop drinking altogether. Either one can result in divorce. There are just no guarantees that come with marriage. Some claim they stayed together through hard work. Others may have just been lucky. Some marriages are happy. Some are not.
I have some good friends that have what appears to me to be the perfect marriage built around dedicated common interests. They do everything together, and I have mentioned to them how enviable their relationship is. The husband just accepts my comment, while the wife groans and claims they fight all the time, something I'm not aware of at all.
Relationships! Love! I'm still haven't figured it all out. I'm at the point where I think much of it defies logic and human understanding. But it's still fun.