[Don Joe]

"thanx Don. The message for guys is pick your friends and wives like you pick your fruit at the supermarket. If it ain't up to it, leave it where it is."

You're quite welcome. I learned my mistakes the hard way. Twice. After the second divorce, I became a hermit for nearly a decade. Went "out for coffee with the boys" several times a week, worked at home (career change after nearly dying after getting rear-ended at an intersection), and resolved that I was "off the market" for good.

Then I met a nice, sane, lady -- a Christian, and a schoolteacher -- and we became good friends. About a year later, we became "more than good friends" and we've been married for several years now.

The secret IMO is not to "date", but to marry someone who has been a genuine friend for a long enough period of time that you know that you like each other for more than hormonal reasons.

[shaggy eel]

,,, you're right. I lasted almost 15 years in my first marriage. I remarried in February this year after shacking up for almost three years. Very happy now and even happy to be able to look back at the disaster, knowing what I've come thru. The whole situation depends on an adversarial environment to keep lawyers involved and in control. They're like any other consultant in that you have to know how to manage them. Once that's determined, you're on the home stretch.