> I don't see living together as a cop-out, though. If you define "marriage" as "having had a church wedding ceremony", then I would have to say I am not married. However, if you define it as a committed lifelong union of love, mutual respect and all the rest, in which separation is not an option, then I am certainly married. After eleven years I see no difference between our "living together" and anybody else's "marriage" - in fact, we have seen one of our properly-married friends get through upwards of three properly-married and subsequently properly-divorced wives in that time.
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> There are many reasons to get married, and of course for many people it is a religious obligation to do so instead of living together. I think these days it's a personal decision. The "cop-out" element of living together, as I see it, would be in settling for a long series of cheap, short-term failed relationships. And that sort of failure isn't restricted to the unmarried. The commitment of both partners to each other and their relationship is what's important, whether married or not.
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> Brunnen-"not against getting married, there just hasn't seemed to be any reason to"G

:o)

Puck