re: People 35+ and never married

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ya, all my married friends honestly just appear to be dead inside.

the stress of raising kids has also aged them terribly.

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I'm more of a "to each his own" type of guy. I'm happily married for nearly a decade with one kid and another on the way, and while I'm very happy, I applaud people for not getting married and having kids if they don't want to.

Marriage and kids are like college - it's not for everyone, and not partaking doesn't make one a failure by any stretch.

I feel like there's this pressure associated with marriage being a societal norm, and it tends to weigh heavily on people when they reach a certain age. My wife and I have mentioned to one another that from what we see with people our age, there seems to be a prevailing feeling nowadays of "well, I'm at this stage of my life and I'm dating this person, I guess this is who I have to marry." We've seen several people we know have that mentality, and a few inevitable divorces happen because of it.

I'm also of the opinion that there's too much emphasis placed on the "dream wedding" now, which sort of gives a false perception of fairytaleism. Marriage isn't about having a party and having a great time all the time with a large group of people where you're in the spotlight, it's about enjoying each other's company when you're alone and no one is around (along the lines of the "do the right thing when no one is looking" mantra). It's not about having fun on vacation in some faraway tropical destination, it's about having fun on a Tuesday night when it's raining and there's nothing to do.