Is Marriage the next Krispy Kreme?

If you've been online, turned on a TV, or read a newspaper lately, you'll know that the second coming of Jesus has begun. Oh wait, no, Prince William just got engaged. But the way the press is treating this story you'd think it actually was the second coming. Point being, I'm excited to see a royal wedding since I wasn't alive for the last one, but wow am I tired of hearing about where Kate will get her bridesmaid dresses, or weather or not she'll include a tribute to Diana at the reception. Apart from all the royal wedding updates, there was an article on yahoo this morning about the declining need for a couple to be married to have a family.

Someone must have screwed up big time, no one was supposed to know that two people can produce children without a marriage license! Does this really seal the nail in the coffin for marriage, is it really obsolete? For me, I've been with my man for about 5 1/2 years now and we aren't married. Granted, if we had gotten married on say, our 2nd anniversary, I would have been the ripe old age of 16. Most of the time it doesn't bother me at all that we aren't married, until this conversation comes up: Random person "So, how long have you two been together", Me "about 5 1/2 years", Random person "Oh...wow, why aren't you married yet?", Me "death glare". Do I care what another person thinks about our relationship? No, I know we're going to go the distance no matter if we're married or not. At the same time, it does annoy me that because he's my boyfriend and not my husband, that people think our relationship is any less valid. Is this a good case for validating marriage, of course not, but maybe it's a chance to look at what a marriage really is. 

There are a lot of pro's and con's to getting married, and also to living together. In today's world a lot of things that were once exclusive to married people are now available to everyone. For example; you can live together, have kids, have a joint bank account, yadda yadda yadda, without being married. For many of us who grew up with divorced parents, step parents, ect, not getting married seems like a fantastic way to avoid all the drama. If you decide to go your separate ways, there's no messy divorce! Not to mention, you can save a fortune by not getting married. What about if you have kids though? Will it be any less messy for your kids if you two aren't legally married and divorce? My big pro for marriage, is that by being married you're reminded everyday that you took a vow, oath, whatever, to say that you two are in it for the long hall. Does this mean that bad things don't happen, that people don't marry the wrong person and get divorced? No! But by being married, you have a reminder on your finger that you made a promise to another person, in front an ungodly amount of people, that you're willing to do whatever it takes to be their partner for life. Is marriage for everyone? No, but neither is it obsolete.