Finding and sustaining a compatible primary domestic partner seems near the core of happiness in life. I have been happily married to my second wife, Susan, for the past 28 years. We met through a pre-internet era dating service in 1995, which worked well for us as busy professionals. The modern internet no doubt offers more efficient tools for finding and selecting a compatible partner — I'm a bit rusty!

We both learned much from the struggles in our respective first marriages. Hoping to limit wasted time of first dates with clearly incompatible prospective partners — mine and theirs — I composed a starkly candid personal examination of compatibility factors that were important to me, and, I think, a useful guide for most people who desire to live in partnership. I showed this document to Susan on our first date, as I had to a few others who preceded her. I found that most women sought a more romantic fellow than I, but my preferences seemed to match Susan's. The rest is history.

Since developing haiku quintets as a tool for artistic self-expression in 2019, I have written many pieces about Susan and our relationship, including certain ingredients of our "secret sauce." Browse Part 1 ("Love and Relationships") of Haiku Quintets and Part 2 ("Susan") of my memoir, A Life Mostly Lived: True Stories in 85 Syllables.

Selected haiku:
Three Magic Words — not the ones you're thinking of
How To Make Love — not what you're thinking
How To Choose a Spouse — compatibility factors
Hear the Other Side — a truism in mediation
Schizoid Compromise — managing boundaries
Simple Magic — from me-against-you to us-against-it
Microeconomics of Love — think outside the box