Where Mark and I stand, statistically speaking:

• The divorce rate in the U.S. is around 50%.
• The National Autism Association estimates that the divorce rate for parents of a child with autism is close to 80%.
• Given that sex addiction is still so cloaked in shame and secrecy, no one knows what the divorce statistics are, but it has got to be significantly higher than the national average. Autism may have stressed our marriage, but sex addiction made me consider leaving.
• I haven't been able to find statistics on interracial marriages, but societal disapproval puts greater stress on the marriage, which could, in theory, lead to a higher divorce rate. Our parents sure didn't think we could make it work.

So, by my calculations, the divorce rate for interracial couples, who have a child with autism and are dealing with sex addiction is about 96.824%. (Oh, by the way, you do know that 85% of all statistics are made up, don't you?)

Any way you look at it, that data comforts me. If we were divorced, I'd know we were in good company and that we went down fighting one of the hardest battles ever. As it is, I am thankful for whatever combination of luck, destiny and higher purpose has guided us here: still together after almost ten years of marriage, against all the odds, continuing to work together, learning, growing and even happy.