Every Thanksgiving Day as we prepare for our national day of prayer and feasts, we are reminded of the Pilgrims and Puritans, those early settlers to the Boston area who celebrated their first successful harvests in America. These English immigrants established in “New England” a foundation for many aspects of our present American culture and values, including universal education, a democratic culture, an egalitarian legal system, a middle-class economy, and the normality of home ownership. Early New England Puritan culture also influenced the expectation in America today that marriage should be a monogamous partnership of equals, based on love, with companionship as a primary goal. Although the institution of marriage seems to have as many problems as ever, the fact that we have such high expectations for marriage is yet one more thing to be grateful for.