It bothered me for years. How did my stepfather fall for my mother? He's a Jehovah's witness, she's a Seventh-day Adventist. He has eight kids and no marriages before my mom, she had me and my brother from being married to my dad. My stepfather has been fighting life-long alcohol and smoking addiction, my mother won't even drink anything with caffeine in it. He likes going to Habitat for Humanity for "new things", and she likes shopping at Belk for the latest sales. He likes pickup trucks to haul junk around in, and she's had her heart set on a Mercedes Benz since I've been a kid.My parent's relationship has it's ups and downs, but they are still together. How?
I took a look at their natal charts, and found they're not so different after all:
Both of them are earth signs. She's a taurus, he's a capricorn.
My stepfather and my mother both have jupiter conjunct their fire sign ascendants. My stepfather has a sagitarius ascendant,and my mother has a leo ascendent. Also, my stepfather's moon in taurus conjuncts my mother's sun in taurus.
My mother's taurus sun is conjunct her taurus midheaven, and there has been some improvement in her career since marrying my stepfather. My stepfather's taurus moon is in the fourth house, and since he married my mom, he is co-owner of a house for the first time, and is active in home improvement.
My mother also has pluto conjuncting her jupiter in her first house of leo. This makes her come off as a very hard-nosed my way or the highway character to most people. My stepfather's pluto is trine his jupiter, and his softer more managerial outlook has changed her approach to doing things over the years.
Another interesting aspect is my mother's Juno in Capricorn. My stepfather has is Juno in Aquarius, but my mother has a very powerful Mars in Aquarius that aspects five planets in her chart. Her outlook on life is very liberal, and she has a very eclectic fashion sense as well.
So, while their life experiences have been very different, there is something underneath the surface that has kept them together for the past sixteen years.