An interesting observation...via People magazine

Because of the unreliability of sending mail internationally, our mail is sent to my parents' house, piling up until they come to see us or until we travel to Florida. Included among the credit card offers and letters from our alma matters asking for alumni donations is a stack of People magazines (to which I am ashamed to say I subscribe), which come one every few weeks. I noticed something interesting while reading issues from the last three months, when we left for Guatemala. Articles gush about new couples dating, already soul mates and madly in love....four issues later, a publisist has announced that "unfortunately, the couple has amicably split." I honestly laugh a bit whenever I come across an old article declaring that a celebrity couple will be together forever, only to see that they have split a few issues later. I was shocked when I read in one issue that comedian Chris Kattan had married his model girlfriend and only a a few issues later they had "amicably separated." Short-lived celebrity marriages are not new news, but it is shocking to see marriages lasting no longer than a few issues of People magazine. Guatemala certainly isn't exempt from the decline of the traditional, nuclear family. Abandonment by fathers is a huge issue, leaving many uneducated, single mothers to raise large families. Divorce, adultry and co-habitation are also large issues, leaving many children in unstable home environements.