Marriage: Until death do us part?

(This is an article I wrote for a web page that asked this question)

Marriage: Until death do us part?


This may have been a good notion in its days of conception, when humans only lived a very short time. Men and women worked hard to just stay alive. Couples didn’t spend a lot of quality time together. Most of their days were spent in survival mode. When they did have a moment together, it was an innate urge that needed satisfied and then back to the business of sustaining life.
Men needed a woman to keep his home and family tended to and women needed a man who could provide for their family’s needs. Those were pretty much the qualifications of the day. Most marriages were arranged by parents for their own advancements. Whether love was the basis for the attachment, usually didn’t factor into the conversation. Business, financial security and domestic duty, those were the reasons a contract that was locked in till death, worked.
But now? I’m not convinced it is reasonable. Fifty years or more is an awful long time to be with one person, even if you are madly in love most of the time.
In these times, (the 21st century) humans live a much more complicated life. They have choices; Careers, relationships, habitations, divorce, etc... They have a need to have many experiences to fulfill their desires. Needs and desires weren’t even a concept back in the olden days. Now, you have hundreds of choices with each life experience; groceries, neighborhoods, jobs, romantic liaisons.
With all those options, why would you want to pick just one and have it every day for the rest of your life. There has to be a moment when you fancy another possibility.
Yes, I am sure many of you will declare your instances of couples that have stayed together for years and still show love for one another. I am willing to bet almost anything, if you interview those involved separately, you will find they either missed out on many experiences that they longed for or took full advantage of those experiences and perhaps never got caught.
I am in the first grouping. I have been married for almost twenty years and have longed for many life experiences (not all human) that I could not take advantage of because I would have neglected my family or hurt someone’s feelings. I am not saying I don’t love my husband or that I don’t find him attentive, fun or entertaining. I am saying, that one human being can not be everything to another one being, till you die. However, I believe that you can be married and live a pleasant and content life that is formed from many compromises.
Personally, I feel if you are married to a good person that has similar world views, you have a very good chance of having a smile on your face on the day that death knocks on your door and makes you part.