Well here's hoping you are in the 50% that don't get screwed for this decision...

(I'm bitter or less than completely confident in "the old institution" or anything.... Besides who want to be Institutionalized for the rest of their lives?)

 

This IS a woman we're talking about, right? Ain't no safe bets where them females is concerned.  

 

If it makes you feel any better, the 50% statistic is misleading. If one person gets married and divorced 4 times, then in order for there to be a 50% divorce rate, there must be 4 other couples who don't (or one person involved in polygamy).

The better way to judge is by *first* marriages, for which the success rate is higher. I'm sure anyone who wants to research it can come up with other numbers, but the one study I just found has the overall "success" rate (ie divorce or separation) at 66%. The data becomes a bit more promising when looking at ages. If the wife was under 18, the success rate is in the 40s. 18-19 up to the 50s, 20-24 over 70%, and 25+ the marriage stays together for at least 20 years in over 80% of circumstances. (Study can be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad323.pdf)

Of course, statistics are statistics. Whatever good they may be doesn't have much bearing when discussing the individual, but at the very least the numbers suggest no reason to start out expecting failure.

UPDATE

From http://www.divorcereform.org/real.html

These are estimates of how different factors influence divorce rates.

Annual income over $50,000 (vs. under $25,000) - subtract 30%
Having a baby seven months or more after marriage (vs. before marriage) subtract24
Marrying over 25 years of age (vs. under 18) subtract 24
Own family of origin intact (vs. divorced parents) subtract 14
Religious affiliation (vs. none) subtract 14
Some college (vs. high-school dropout) subtract 13

Now, these factors are for the wives only (such studies usually pick one sex to keep the statistics more honest), but since women tend to marry men in similar circumstances, I woudn't expect huge changes for the men either.

 

Goooood. Gooood Soon your hatred will consume you. [Emperor Palpatine]

 

Well... she's begging for it. So hopefully that means it's a safe bet. I'm kind of nervous personally.

However... forget what i said last night. I had such a great time torturing her last night and today. Fallse starts and all that. Maybe her knowing it's coming this week and expecting it isn't such a bad thing afterall? 

[edit]

THe only real problem is that her sister Nina and her bro-in-law Eric are visiting. Eric's cool, he's not a problem. But Nina... well she's just annoying in general, but especially about this topic. One moment she's asking when we're getting engaged/married, the other she's telling Vic that "you're not married yet, why don't you see other guys?"

Grrrrr....

 

Make sure you use a condom ok?

And good work, keep us updated...

 

Con... dom? What is this object you speak of? Sounds kind of sexual...