<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  My mother trash-talks the Wii. When she plays baseball or tennis with my kids on our Wii video game, she tells the cartoon people on the screen what she thinks of their pitches, serves, even their hair-dos. My father, on the other hand, does no such thing. And that&amp;#039;s exactly why they&amp;#039;re perfect for each other. The secret to my parents&amp;#039; 46-year marriage is simple: Take separate cars. When my mom coached my soccer team years ago, she drove a bunch of us players to the game in her station wagon, while my father arrived later in his own car. Mom stood on one side of the field, yelling &amp;quot;Get that ball, Jennifer!&amp;quot; Dad sat on the other side of the field, occasionally offering polite applause. When the referee blew the whistle signaling the end of the game, Dad gathered his folding chair and left, while Mom handed out Gatorade to my teammates. But hey, it worked for them. My parents barely knew each other when they got married for no apparent reason other than they couldn&amp;#039;t live without each other. They had been together every day for months when my father decided to &amp;quot;take a break.&amp;quot; A week later, he took my mom to dinner where she loaded up on food, assuming he was about to break up with her. Instead, he proposed. She accepted. It wasn&amp;#039;t until their honeymoon that they discovered how different they were (and still are). While my mom did back dives off the diving board, my father read The New York Times poolside. And that pretty much sums up their marriage. They&amp;#039;ve allowed each other their own likes, desires and personality quirks while being there for each other when it matters most. Well, except when they&amp;#039;re in separate cars. My brother and I are getting Mom her own Wii as a combined Christmas and birthday present this year so she can trash-talk her own TV. We haven&amp;#039;t figure out what to get Dad yet, though I&amp;#039;m sure it&amp;#039;ll be something completely different. But hey, it works for them. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a22243/the-secret-to-a-long-marriage/?src=shelter_footer>