Addicted to Weddings

No, 'm not in particular but there is some kind of trend going on. I just want to list weekends I was aware of/invited to people's weddings:

June 17
June 24
July 8
July 15
July 22
July 29
August 12

And that's just who I'm aware of! Never mind who might actually be getting married currently and I haven't heard about them. I'm amazed at how many people are tying the knot. Not in general but in my age group. There's not a single person on here who is over 25. Seriously. I guess things are just so different in a city. Maybe it's because there's more to do or something but that definitely is not happening in New york. Most people wait until they're older, probably 29-33 is the largest age group. And a whole lot of people much older than that!

I have to say i admire my friends who are able to commit themselves so totally to another person right out of college. While I'm committed (no pun intended) I'm certainly not ready to be legally bound to him. It's not about love or family or any of that. It's about retaining some sort of independence, being able to go where I want to go and do what I need to do before I settle down and begin a life with someone. Every girl has twinges of jealousy when it comes to watching her friends get married, but at this point the jealousy has faded into a sort of sadness. It seems like marriage should come when you're fully ready to share your whole life with someone, and if you do that at too young an age you miss the chance to be independent and selfish. I think Selfish is good. Selfish means you can spend some years buying ridiculous clothes and getting manicures and eating whatever you want and doing laundry whenever you feel like it. To me, binding two people together means that from then on they should always consider each other before themselves. And it feels like we're too young to be doign that.

A lot of that has to do with wartime. It's shown again and again that war causes the marriage age to drop and the birth rate to go up. People's instinct tells them to reproduce to protect themselves and their families. It's some kind of natural instinct to dash for rings when bombs are exploding overseas. There's a reason for itt, I'm just trying to figure it out. And since this war seems like it's going to go on for quite a while I imagine we'll continue to see the marriage age drop and the baby rate rise, at least fora few years until people once again realize they can't afford all these children and divorce lawyers.

The optimism it takes to get married right now is astounding. YOu're fighting a less than 50% chance of survival, and hoping for the best when you take those vows. So here's to you.