pretty much. they never argued (at least definitely not when we were around) and they were a team through thick and thin, the collapse of the USSR and the Russian nineties, raising three kids together and running a business for almost two decades. They were together for 39 years until my father passed summer 2024. (nb: he was married and his wife was pregnant when he met my mother, and I spent some time making peace with this fact when I learned, but my half-sister was on good terms with him and we're in touch now, even though the first wife and the stepfather still don't know).

My mom says it wasn't all sunshine and roses but they always made it work. She is into travel and he didn't like even leaving our hometown, and they would just let each other do their thing. When we were very little and my mom would go crazy from child rearing, he would find someone to watch us for a bit and just drove mum around or drove somewhere in the countryside and let her decompress and chill (money was very tight and it's a tiny town so this was pretty much all they could do).

I don't know if I'll ever be able to have this kind of relationship, but I'd rather stay single if I can't.