My marriage is becoming deeper and stronger each day.

Strength has an odd measure in a marriage: the number of subjects you can raise without either of you leaving the room.

Early on, the list of safe topics is short and the tone is careful. Years later you can argue about the dishwasher for eleven minutes and end up laughing, because neither of you believes the argument means anything larger.

That is what accumulates. Not agreement, which would be dull, but a growing confidence that disagreement is survivable.

The subjects that were once unmentionable between you and now are not: that is the growth, and it never once felt like growth at the time.