Yes and no.
My parents were night and day. He was a vicarious, larger than life, dynamic, deeply flawed man; my mom was the sweet, strong, reserved, salt of the earth type. They both shared a mutual, authentic love for the Lord (my father use to be a pretty powerful evangelist and my mom met him at 20 when he did an impromptu revival at her church after coming in straight off the street). But my dad also had very strong worldly streak, and some persistent demons to wrestle. He was a drinker, a gambler, and for a long time a womanizer. He was married two times before my mom, and had countless other affairs and girlfriends across his life. He was a mass of incredible contradictions. My mom rarely drank, and when she did it was wine, never did drugs, didn't smoke, or cuss. They were night and day.
They had a very strange, unorthodox marriage. They were married for close to 30 years, but were friends for years before they got together, and eventually wed. My mom worshipped my dad. She saw all his flaws, but loved him anyway. He hurt her. He had a sharp tongue, and could say hurtful things in one instant, but the next second treat you like nothing happened. His gambling cost her, and us, a lot, financially and emotionally. He cheated, and on more than one occasion. They separated about ten years into the marriage. But here is the strange thing; they never divorced, remained best friends, and were still clearly very much in love. It was a very "us against the world" type situation. All they had, truly had, on the deepest levels, were one another and God. They were two people in love who lived apart, loved, and didn't even consider divorce.
Then my dad moved back home and they reunited after 17 years of separation and living apart. They both were like teenagers again. My mom said it was the happiest time of their entire marriage. She respected this man, deeply. Even when he hurt her, she never bad mouthed him, and she was ecstatic to have him home. She wasn't blind to his ways, she just loved him as a person, through and through. He was joyed to be back with his wife, and the three kids they had together (my dad has many other children, and was married twice before my mom), even though we were all pretty much grown. It's like, on some level, his life stopped after the separation and he was waiting for this huge family reunion. He stepped back into the house as though life was suppose to pick up again from the late 80's, when we were all kids. It was on one hand very endearing, and on the other hand jarring. I am the only one of my mom's kids who remembers the being together when I was a very young kid, and I was also the one who always had a deep knowing that they would reunite. Seeing them together was a joy for me in a way that it was not for my younger brother and sister. For me it was a strong affirmation about the power of love.
My dad had some health issues by this point, and my mom took care of him. They were very happy.
It lasted three years, before my dad passed from a stroke. It broke my mother. Soon after she ran into her own health issues. She passed on two years ago, five years after her husband died. Both were only in their 60's. The losses were huge, and surprising, because longevity runs in both of their families. My mother never really recovered from my father's passing. I know she longed and ached for him every single day. It was like the light went out and she was stumbling around in the dark.
I learned a lot from my parent's marriage, both the ugly, and the exquisite. I've never cheated on my wife, or any woman. I don't want to put anyone through what my father put my mother, and other women, through.
It also gave me the double edged sword of knowing how to love from a distance. My wife and I spent a lot of our pre-married life in a long distance relationship. I was able to endure that, and easier than her, because I grew up seeing two people connected, but separated. Actually getting married, living the day to day life of love, was a HUGE transition for me. The only time I'd seen that was as a little boy, and for a few years in my early 20's.
I make sure I fight to not take my wife too much for granted. I stay in prayer about how thankful I am for her, and us. I try and let her know often that I love and cherish her. I don't want to take her for granted the way I know my father sometimes did my mom.
I didn't pick up most of my dad's vices, likely because I was primarily raised by my mother, but I do have his tongue. I have to be careful with that in my marriage.
My dad, despite his flaws, was always loved by my mother, and respected by her. I did pick that up from him and them. I expect to be loved, I expected to be desired, I expect to be respected by my wife, even when I don't feel I necessarily have deserved that. It's a flaw, but my wife does with me exactly what my mom did with my father.
My dad was a fiercely independent person, and I admit to inheriting that as well. He could not be controlled, or "tamed". I'm nowhere near the wild child he was, but I am extremely resistant to feeling shackled, boxed in, manipulated, or controlled. My wife comments regularly on this fact, and she knows I am extremely off put by attempts to pull this off. So we both give one another very wide births, and our marriage is better for it.
In some ways I did marry my mom. My mom was an extraordinary woman. She loved hard, loved deeply, was always self sacrificing, giving, generous, and nonjudgmental; she was the best mother, and a far better wife than my father had the right to expect, or deserved. My wife is a lot like her, but even sweeter, even kinder, more emotional, and she loves me so, so deeply. I can say that she does love me with the singularity that I feel hallmarked how my mom loved my dad.
But the most important thing my parents taught me is that love wins out. These two people faced the kinds of odds, mistakes, hurt, pain, and crushing blunders that would tear even the strongest marriages apart. But they kept on loving, kept on connecting, despite it all. They stayed in love, until the very end. There is something incredibly powerful in that.
So in some ways my parents' marriage was an inspiration, and in some ways a cautionary tale. I do know that each generation is getting better and better though. For all the strange, often heartbreaking, idiosyncrasies in my mom and dad's marriage, they were FAR better than the marriages that came before them, by massive leaps and bounds. And now, in my relationship before marriage, and now a few years into marriage, I am improving so far on their marriage (and my wife is definitely living a richer married life than her parents do).
For that I know my parents would be proud, and very happy.