"I wish our culture would move away from defining a "successful relationship" as one that lasts until one of the people dies."

I'm not sure why, but this reminded me of something a friend once said. I'm paraphrasing here, but gist was that if a relationship is broken off, even on a bad note like an affair on the side, wasn't it still worth it for the good times? And wasn't it even successful during those good times? It's just interesting to think about how an ended relationship or a divorced marriage is often viewed as "failed," when it doesn't necessarily have to be seen that way.