Don't Wait for Marriage: Waiting around to Walk Down the Aisle May Make Your Wedding Vows Harder to Keep

Van Epp, John, U.S. Catholic

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IT WAS THE END OF MY JUNIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE, AND I WAS considering marrying the woman of my dreams. My father questioned the wisdom of marrying so young (even though he was even younger when he married my mother), but I reassured him that we had come to deeply know and love each other over the last two years and that we wanted to go through life together, starting right away. I explained that we did not want to become "established" and then get married; we wanted to go through that adventure together.

We married the summer before my senior year with little money, a tiny apartment, and endless dreams of our future. Thirty years later, my wife and I are still thankful that we made the decision to grow up together through our 20s.

But my father's apprehension in 1980 has become the trend of this new millennium. In fact, a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out that some sociologists argue that "early marriage" is the No. 1 predictor of divorce. They encourage young adults to explore their identity, work, and love by delaying marriage and parenthood until their later 20s. They warn that those who fail to postpone these family transitions miss out on better career opportunities, make poorer choices on partners, and develop more marital problems.

Today the perception is that marriage takes more than it gives …

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Publication information: Article title: Don't Wait for Marriage: Waiting around to Walk Down the Aisle May Make Your Wedding Vows Harder to Keep. Contributors: Van Epp, John - Author. Magazine title: U.S. Catholic. Volume: 75. Issue: 9 Publication date: September 2010. Page number: 18+. © 2008 Claretian Publications. COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale Group.

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