Chapter 1<br > The Passages: Growth<br > Stages of a<br > Living Marriage<br > ~t was the best of times， it was the worst of times. Wel<br > come to think of it， there wasn t much "best" about it. Rick am<br > Nancy had reached an impasse in their marriage that made jus<br > about every day far from best. They were both working， but the~<br > couldn t get ahead of the bills. Their financial trouble was noth<br > mg serious， nothing to scream "bankruptcy!" about. They wer(<br >just a little short all the time.<br > Rick was boring in his predictability. So was sex. Was Nanc)<br >that predictable too? She hated to think so. Naaah， surely not<br >Nancy didn t feel a day over twenty; she was still young， despite<br >the somewhat expanded waistline and the free little lines in the<br >corners of her eyes.<br > Nancy s mother-in-law， Ethyl， was a royal pain and getting<br >worse. The nosy woman thought Rick and Nancy ought to be<br >buying a house by now instead of renting. Ethyl even off red to<br >loan them some fhnds for the down payment. She thought they<br >were too hard on their girls--or too lenient. Ethyl would play it<br >both ways. And she was constantly complaining that Rick did，a t<br >pay enough attention to her. After all， she and Rick s f~thcr were<br >not as spry as they used to be， and they ought to be seeing their<br >grandchildren more regularly， and . . . The old woman. She<br >never seemed to let up. And Rick s dad was difficult in the oppo-<br >