“If you are afraid of loneliness, don’t marry,: said Anton Chekhov. And he was right.

We expect total love, commitment, interest, loyalty, fidelity, and sexual attractiveness. And what do we get? A 50-percent divorce rate (90-percent in teenage marriages).

Saint Valentine was a roman priest who was beheaded in 170 A.D. on or around Feb. 14. His crime had been performing marnux ceremonies for young men who were supposed to remain single in order to make better soldiers!

We’ve all seen them, two elderly people sitting silently across each other in the restaurant or diner, staring past each other in a dull deadening silence.

How long have they been married? A long time.

Was it always like this? No.