I reserve Sunday mornings for the Globe, freshly ground coffee, and Rob. We typically banter about the news. But this week I kept mum while reading a Parade Poll Special Report "The Truth about American Marriage," wherein Leslie Bennetts admits that divorce in the news makes the state of marriage in the U.S. seem like a toxic mess.

Take for example the stories about John Edwards, Paul McCartney, and Alex Rodriguez. But if divorce has made the news more spectacularly more often in 2008, this is not necessarily indicative of the true state of affairs. In this national poll, 88% of respondents reported being happy or content in marriage.

With a divorce rate over 50%, that seems incredibly high! And something I can't relate to.

On the other hand, close to 30% of respondents described their marriages as "peaceful coexistence." Now that sounds familiar. And pitiful, no? It's a bit...lacking.

This I found somewhat shocking: Men are happier than women in their marriages. Nearly 70% of men said they "never" think of leaving, whereas nearly 50% of women say they do — sometimes daily.

Sex? 60% of men and 51% of women aren't having as much as they want. Frequency? According to Bennetts, 31% have sex less than once a month. But 27% have it a few times a week. Nice. But that leaves us wondering about the remaining 42%. Daily? Never?

From what we've heard about the cheating gene lately, it comes as no surprise to learn men admit to straying more often (nearly 25%) as compared to women (11%). Four percent of respondents avoided this question completely. It seems we all like to keep secrets of some type...try nearly half of men and 41% of women.

Perhaps the secret-keeping explains the high level of satisfaction compared to the divorce rate. It seems at least some of those happy marriages are bound for a change in direction.