I do..I don't..?

I had a long talk with a friend the other day. As usual the topic about relationships came out, particularly marriage. We were talking about other people's experiences and we sure had a lot of bad examples to quote. It made us come to the conclusion that marriage is a gamble. Cliche, but when you think about it, it really is a BIG risk. Just when you think you know your partner well enough, a few years down the road, he/she may turned out to be way different from the person you took your vows with. A friend who went through a bitter divorce, told me that after more than ten years of marriage, she never expected that she had married a monster. Scary, isn't it? Marriage, to me is a beautiful, sacred thing but human beings are the ones who marred the image of this otherwise perfect union.

I would loved to get married to that special someone and lived happily ever after but how many of us can really stand up and say that tying the knot with their partner is the best thing that has ever happened to them - after 10 years of marriage? I'm sure there are some people out there who will be able to say this without hesitation but there are only a few. The rare few. I have heard so many horror stories and so few fairytales. As much as I wanna get hitched, hearing the bad experiences of these people makes me shudder. Makes me think twice about settling down. And I'm sure my mom wouldn't want to hear this from me. It also depends on one's luck, I guess. There are some people who still look at their partner lovingly despite being together for donkey years, and there are some who decided to change 'flavour' even after just one or two years of marriage.

Sigh....where are the good old days of 'till death do us part'? It hurts when your life partner dies and leave you but it hurts even more if a third party is involved. Which is why, although I have seen my mom go through hell when my dad passed away, I would much rather my future partner croaked than have him leave me for another slut. As with all relationships, there are bound to be problems. Especially so in marriage but would a couples' love be strong enough to overcome any obstacles? I guess, only time will tell. And only time will tell if I would be ready to take that life changing plunge, if/when I have to make that decision...