The Marriage Market

I've always considered myself too young for marriage. Twenty-two is not the ripest banana in the age bunch and for years my mind was focused on other things: graduating college, finding a job, avoiding being let go from said job, buying my own place, exploring the nightlife of whatever city I decided to live in and then, of course, finding a boyfriend. Having only done two of those things currently, I turned my focus to the job market, but alas...

The job market has been closed to me for quite sometime; it feels like a private auction house selling items to the highest bidder. It's not the type of buyers paradise that makes me feel those warm and fuzzies.

The market that has been booming bigger and badder than any I've seen in a long while is the marriage market.

It all started over a year ago when my roommate, Sarah, found herself engaged to a wonderful young man she'd been seeing for awhile. I was enthralled and excited and did that "squeeing" girl-dance that all women do when they see a shiny stone on a ring finger.

Then, almost to the day a year later, my friend Heather calls me squealing with apparent delight at her engagement to a wonderful young many she'd been seeing for awhile. And asked me to be a bridesmaid.

And THEN my friend Cody decides to up and marry some broad I didn't know existed while he's been in basic training for the Army and all of a sudden he wants me at the big reception.

What do you do when all you see around you are weddings, tearful "yes!"es shouted from dimly lit tables at fancy Italian restaurants and changed surnames of old friends?

You accept it.

Here in the Great East (Coast), we tend to hold off on the vows until 401k's are established, as well as careers/credit scores/apartments/independence. We do not dive into marriage, we merely wade in and test the waters of conjugal bliss before signing our lives away via pre-nup.

I decided to do a little experiment and waded through all my Facebook friends to see who was married, who was engaged and who remained faithful by the hairs on their chinny-chin-chin. All of the married/engaged couples (give or take one or two) were based in Illinois (where my alma matter currently resides). Was there something about that Midwestern water that had everyone rushing to the alter pretty much out of high school? It worried me that friends of mine started to soon and I went through a mild culture stroke upon coming to that conclusion.

For now, I know I'd rather settle myself in a solid work environment and move out of my parents place before finding that man (and that ring) and tying them to me forever.

Forever is a very, very long time, anyway.