Finding the Key to a Strong Relationship

As a kid my first example of a relationship was my parents, which wasn't a good one. If my parents were in the same room they would be yelling at eachother and tearing eachother down with every word. It was a horrable environment for me and my siblings. There were six of us kids all together. So early on we learned that relationships equalled a lot of fighting and stress. We carried out our fighting with one another and never got along. Most parents know that when kids get older they will mimic their parents behavior and words, and that's exactly what we did. As I got older I realized that our whole family was dysfunctional and I took it upon myself to help my family get closer. I read every book strong families and relationships that I could get my hands on. I even watched a tv series about mending relationships. So, after I made a decision to try and change my family I was found in the middle of every fight that went on, including the fights between my parents. I was never able to help my parents, but my siblings started to see the same thing that I saw and one at a time changed their behavior. Finally, I got to the point where I was engaged to my husband and really saw how much my family had changed. I felt accomplished even though my parents were the same, but I was scared of my family going back to their old habits once I was gone. I was gone for only one year when I had found out that things had escalated since I got married. My parents ended up getting divorced and my younger brothers were physically fighting and beating the crap out of eachother. I felt as though it was my fault that things got so bad, but I realized that I can't babysit my family forever. Eventhough things got bad for my family, I realized how much I had changed over the years with how I reacted in my marriage from the very beginning. I finally found the key to a good, strong, and enduring relationship. It's respect for one another and honesty. To this day my husband and I have never yelled at eachother. We do argue, but we respect and love eachother to the ends of the earth. So I wouldn't change a thing I went through growing up because I learned how to love and respect through the mistakes that occured in the beginning of my life. It made me who I am today.