Seven years ago, I asked my partner Kelsey if she would marry me.

I did that despite the fact that every living member of my family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced.

My parents, all my aunts and uncles on both sides, my only living great-uncle, my only

living grandparent, not to mention some of my great-grandparents, all had been married,

and all had been divorced, some of them twice.

It's certainly not an encouraging track record.

And the deeper I got into my own marriage, the more questions I had about the examples I had grown up with and my own capacity for commitment.

So I started asking.

Hello.

Hey, Ian.

I talked to every one of those relatives.

Hey there, how you're doing?

Hello?

How are you? Oh, hi, Ian.

Hi, how were you?

About their marriages.

I really thought I would be with him for the rest of my life.

And their divorces.

I was expecting it to be more fulfilling.

The stories they told were at once more bizarre.

The whole courtroom is like a reverse wedding.

And also more relatable, more familiar than I had ever imagined.

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