I was married to my first husband for 15 years, and have been married to my second since July 1996. I'm answering about my second marriage, which is as happy as I have ever been in my life.

We didn't exactly date informally because I was living in Boulder and he was living in Morgantown WV. We met at a ranch here in Co., owened by an old pal of his, and then a month later he drove from WV to Maine to see me while I was there for a couple of weeks. After that we were on the phone almost daily for the next year. He visited me here and I visited him in WV. The following summer he packed up all his belongings and moved to Boulder, and the summer after that we got married. In actual fact I was exclusive about him from day one, and he was the same. We were both unattached when we met.

He is 11 1/2 years older than I am.

Traits I am less crazy about than others: He passionately hates even the faintest whiff of cigarette smoke, and I have relatives who still smoke, even including my two adult kids. This has been an occasional source of conflict, but my kids have come to understand that when they come to visit they just have to be clean, and they can't smoke anywhere near our place.
He is also much slower and more deliberate than I am, so I may be ready to leave the house in five minutes, but I will have forgotten five or six things. He is much more thoughtful, keeps lists, covers all bases. Sometimes I feel impatient but generally I am grateful for his thoroughness.

We complement each other very well. We're not at all alike, but we admire each other a great deal, and he loves to clean house.