Older Adults Who Are Married And Regret It Are Revealing Why, And Their Honesty Is Shocking

10.

“I have been with my spouse since I was 19. We had been common law of some sort since then. I had decided that when I was about 38 we should get married because we were having some health issues, so it made more sense to reap the benefits of being married. I asked him, I prepared all the work, like getting the license (which he was late to the appointment), contacting and arranging the date of the ‘wedding,’ buying my own dress, making my own bouquet, and paying for it all. He was not involved in any of it and even invited his parents for the weekend, even though I wanted it to be just the two of us.”

“I had to tell them what we were doing because they were leaving when we needed to be at the location. Then, they invited themselves, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, and their daughter to our ceremony when it was supposed to be just the two of us. We have been married about seven years now, and I have come to really regret it after severe challenges have come up. We are in therapy, but I wish we hadn’t gotten married at all since getting married was easy, but getting divorced in my province is hard; you need to be living separately for a year and with the housing issues, neither of us has the means to do that. Luckily, I have always been child-free, so we don’t have to worry about that. Moral of the story: Getting married, having a child, or getting a pet never solves relationship issues.”

—43, Canada