Weddings

So, a lot of my friends are getting married or engaged (and by a lot I mean very few.. but a lot of my friends have friends who are getting married so that counts!) and it makes me think about life in today's world. Do women still really just want to get married? Is that the end goal for us now?  Either way, these thoughts have not only been on my mind lately because a lot of my friends are posting articles about similar things AND are thinking about how much marriage makes us question equality between men and women.  This article made me especially question the validity of an engagement ring. Everything it says in there I thought "that's so true" but had never thought it before. For example: men don't wear a ring until marriage, I guess they don't have to be "marked" and women want to be equal but still expect the man to buy the ring. I do have some friends who bought their significant other a present when they knew the engagement was coming up, as a way to balance out the fact that the other one was buying the ring, but why not start buying a ring for the man as well?! I think it sounds like a good idea, or just throw out the idea of engagement rings at all. I personally have never been a fan of rings in the first place, I think they are uncomfortable and unnecessary, but this society expects that.

However, this article brings up an even more important question of marriage anyway. Do we need to set marriage as our goal in life? I had a friend tell me that she is settling for her boyfriend who she argues with all the time because she thinks he will be a good father. Should it be our place to "settle" for anyone? I think women can wait until they are ready for marriage, and wait until they find a person they truly want to be with forever... and even that idea scares me.  Is there really any way to say that one person is the person you would want to be with forever? I just hope that someone else figures this all out before I have to deal with the idea of me getting married!

On a happier note, I do still enjoy weddings, so if my friends want to keep getting married I am OK with that!

R