My folks did something similar--Dad was always at the bar with his friends, drove my mom nuts, but I think they would have divorced five years earlier if he hadn't done that.

Yeah, my Dad too. Well, that was the certainly the reason for the first divorce - he spent all his time and his money in the pub, and yet didn't want Mum to work after she had me. Mum ended up leaving him just because of the fact that he wouldn't bring food money home.

Then, due to combined circumstances (like her dating a guy that hit her, him promising that he'd given up drinking, thinking that I'd grow up missing my father), she got back together with him and got remarried (and had my brother). Then, she found out he didn't just have a drinking problem, it was gambling as well.

She spent about the next eight years working like a dog to pay off his never-ending debts, the constant personal loans that he'd take out behind her back. When my brother was a toddler, she was working 6-7 nights a week, and looking after him in the daytime. Then, she switched to weekend work, while Dad worked weekdays. It was only her getting too sick to work (RSI, back complaints from an accident when she was younger, 8 ulcers) that stopped it.

Man, when you say this stuff to an objective stranger (well, outsider - you know what I mean), it's feels impossible that Dad still makes noises like they'll end up together when they're old.