I'VE BEEN ON VACATION BUT NOW I AM BACK AND FOR NOW HERE'S A QUICK THOUGHT:

Perhaps relationships eventually fail because we impose too much pressure on them. All we think about going into them are the expections of "the perfect relationship," or "the love of a lifetime." Maybe we would be better off if we embraced the flaws, celebrated the imperfections, rejoiced in the inconsistencies. If we expected the up-hills, the battles, the richness of friction, we would stop second-guessing each other and appreciate the depth and texture that comes along with challenge. After all, why should we expect two people with two different histories to combine seamlessly like jigsaw puzzle pieces?

As a young child, I had a turquoise sign hanging on my door which had the comic character Ziggy standing in front of a smashed flower pot (one that he had presumably broken himself). The words above Ziggy's peach-colored baldness read "nobody's perfect." I was always quite fond of that Ziggy.