By Claire DeRoin ~
It seems like every time I log on to Facebook, another one of my friends is engaged.
Don’t get me wrong; I love romance, chick flicks, and hearing mushy stories from my girlfriends about what fantastic dates they’ve been on or the cute thing their guy said to them. But since when is dating for six months, then getting engaged the thing to do?
There are lots of couples that get married in college and have successful relationships. The odds of having a successful marriage favor those who have been dating for longer than a year.
Everyone knows the couple that has been dating since seventh grade, followed the other to college, and have never set eyes on another person. These people are pretty much fated to be wed, and that’s another story entirely. I’m not concerned with the couples that have been dating for years.
The Facebook relationship status updates that worry me are those to which I reply, “Have they even been together that long? They’re engaged?” I heard somewhere that an individual should know their partner for at least three years before they decide to spend the rest of their lives- 80 years, in the best cases- together.
My next comment after seeing these whirlwind engagements is usually far more cynical: “Like they’ll even make it to the wedding.” Rude, but legitimate.
Trends come and go. Think back to high school: are there any former boyfriends or girlfriends that make you shudder at your poor past judgment? Me, too. If that didn’t work, were there any questionable phases you went through? I have no idea what I was thinking when I chopped off a foot of hair and dyed the rest of it red and black. It was a phase that lasted about six months. Wouldn’t it be awful if those six months defined the way my hair should be for the rest of my life? Exactly. Apply that sentiment to a relationship.
We have the rest of our lives to be engaged, get married, and do the “’til death do us part” thing. Why rush?
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