for worse, till death do us part” - what Mary Pipher calls “the shelter of each other.”

 

Friendship in a marriage means that the marriage will be pregnant with memories of laughter and humour, for didn’t we choose those friends who made us laugh the most?  Didn’t our mothers always tell us, “when choosing a husband, count the times he made you laugh.”

 

Friendship also means open and honest communication; a no holds barred type of union where our comfort level with our spouse goes beyond 100%, assured that what we say and how we say it will not be judged or taken in a negative light.

 

 

If you talk to married people, a wish they frequently express is that they remain the best of friends and the closest of companions.  Surveys in fact reveal that if there is one component that will enable a couple to weather the tough times, it is friendship. 

 

As a famous poet once said, “No man is an island.”  Kinder and Cowan agree that friendship is the antidote to loneliness.  Getting married does not mean that people will never experience loneliness, “but it does diminish our sense of separateness.”