Thursday, July 17, 2014

Weddings: reasons to marry

People get married for many reasons.  We always hope that love is the main reason. Today society accepts living together and lots of people feel no need to marry.  They love each other, so why do they need a legal paper to prove that love?  Well other issues factor in:  medical insurance, hospital rights, just felt like the time to marry, visa running out, pressure from family, tax benefits, and on and on. 

One couple came in to get a birth certificate and said we might as well get married while we are here.  They had been together for several years.  Monday just felt like the right time to marry.

Two women came to be married.  Their 2 sons were with them.  The couple had been together for 14 years.  You could feel the family love, the happiness these four people had built together.  They told me they said to each other, "We can now, so why don't we?  Let's get married."  They also told me how scary and at the same time wonderful to be able to walk in and buy a marriage license.  They felt real for the first time. 

There were other weddings.  And I will post about them later. 

When I married it was for love, it was because I adored (and still do) Marty Appel), and I did not want to think about a life without him.  And in 1967 marriage was the only acceptable way of life. 

Why did you marry, or have you married?  Living together is no big deal in today's world.  Children do not have to be born to a married couple, so there are very few shot gun weddings, although I have done one or two.  Is marriage now just a contract to have legal rights?  Is marriage more than that?

No comments: