Is there still such a thing as long marriage?

[Stormfromeast]

I'm coming up to the 23rd year of marriage. Each year it seems to be getting harder to keep the marriage going. I don't know if it is to do with getting older or what. We have two lovely children aged 20 and 17. DH has a 85 year old mum who still thinks no woman is ever good enough for her son. And there's a SIL who is goody-goody two shoes and I feel DH benchmarks me against her. I don't have my family here - they live 10,000 mile away. It does feel lonely sometimes. Anyone who's still in a long marriage has any tips for me?

Sorry, but this thread feels a bit like a twilight zone.

OP, you found out your husband was using prostitutes 3 years ago? And you wonder why marriage seems so hard? Now, you seem to be talking yourself into dealing with the peripheral issue of your in-laws?

I would imagine the main reason you're having difficulty is the thing you revealed when this thread was already full of personal anecdotes about long marriages. Perhaps you need to start another thread, along the lines of "My H slept with prostitutes and spent a fortune while doing so - and I just don't feel the same way about him any more."

Then you might get some help with what seems to be the obvious problem?

14 years and it should have ended at about 11. There's been no joy in it for me since then, though I have struggled to make it work. we are now 'sort of' separated (he doesn't have another address but is staying at his mum's for time being, and doesn't want to leave.
I think about half of my married friends are divorced now, one was jilted 6 weeks before her wedding after an 18 year relationship. Despite changes in the law and the culture it is still really really hard, especially for women with children, to get out of unhappy marriages, and I am sure many more would split if they could.