Choosing the Right Man: What Happily Married Women Know

Aracely and Carlos Rosales

Ages: 45 and 49

Years married: 24

Occupations: Health communications consultant; owner of a translation service

How did you know he was the one? We met young—when I was 15 and he was 18. I always thought he was special, more considerate than most men. He was very respectful to his family and to mine. And if I needed something, he would look for it. He was patient and he always made me laugh.

What's made it last? We come from the same background, so we have a lot of things in common, and because we met so young, we grew up together. We moved from Guatemala to the United States, faced the same issues—learning another language and culture, leaving everything we had, including our families. In order to survive, we had to support each other. From the beginning, we knew that we were going to get married and it was going to be forever. We were never thinking, Let's try it and see how it works.

Advice? Being in love definitely helps. Nurture the love any way you can. Work around the person's strengths and weaknesses. Did anybody else say anything about sex? Make it good. To do that you have to challenge yourself. Grow with it. When we go to weddings for young couples these days and they ask us to sign their book, we now write: "Solve any problem with sex."