(RealSimple.com) -- A lengthy separation -- and a surprise trip to Paris -- caused this husband and wife to realize that their marriage could be saved.

Mary L. Tabor and Del Persinger Washington, D.C. Married 26 years

Mary was still in her nightgown and robe, sipping a cappuccino in the kitchen of the Washington, D.C., brownstone she shared with her husband, Del, when he walked in and announced he wanted to live alone. They had been married for 21 years.

"I didn't know what had hit me," Mary, 64, recalls of that fall morning in 2005. "I wondered, does he have a girlfriend? A boyfriend? I had no idea what was wrong."

Although the couple's relationship had been strained for a few months, Mary simply assumed they were going through a rough patch. She attributed Del's loss of interest in sex and his suddenly quick temper to stress from his high-pressure job as a financial analyst.

"Del was so on edge that he would yell at me about every little thing -- like a knife accidentally placed in the dishwasher with the point up," says Mary, a writer and a teacher. Still, she figured that things would soon return to normal.

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For Del, the decision had been a long time coming. Increasingly restless within his marriage, he wondered whether it was holding him back from leading a more exciting life. "I knew the problem wasn't Mary -- it was me," he says. "And I felt I needed to work through my mixed emotions alone."

Answer the following questions:
1. What caused the couple to not separate?
2. What were their names?
3. How long had they been married for?
4. What state were they in?
5. How did Mary react when Del told him he wanted to live alone?
6. Had their relationship been strained for a while?
7. What did Mary assume?
8. What was Mary's profession?
9. How would Del react towards Mary?
10. What year was it when Del told her he wanted to live alone?
11. Did Del blame Mary?

Numbered answers:
1. a trip to Paris
2. Mary L. Tabor and Del Persinger
3. 26 years
4. Washington, D.C.
5. she had no idea what was wrong
6. yes
7. they were going through a rough patch
8. a writer and a teacher
9. he would yell at her
10. 2005
11. no