til death do us part-or just til i'm bored?

I am a firm believer in marriage. I believe that if you choose to make a commitment to one person (civilly or eternally), you are choosing to make it work, no matter what, no matter how much harder it is than you thought. No matter what. It infuriates me when people talk about how  they view their marriages as disposable, and the second they are bored or the flame burns out it's done for them and they have no problems walking away. When I hear them say this I am equally saddened and enraged. With rare few exceptions there is NOTHING you can't work out and no flame that can be re-kindled as long as both parties are willing to work towards it.

I know a few of you who are divorced. I also know a few people who are still married who shouldn't be. With that being said I understand you can't save a marriage on your own, and there are some things that are deal breakers. I am not saying that all people who are divorced didn't do everything they could before choosing that path. I understand fully that you can't fix something if both people aren't equally committed to it, or things like abuse, adultery, or addiction sometimes make it impossible-and even dangerous-to stay. I am not talking about you. I am talking about the people who care so little about their marriage they are willing to throw in the towel before they've even begun the fight and see if there's anything WORTH saving, or simply because they're bored. 

 Spare me the condescending 'well you're not married so you don't know' crap. Yes, I'm not married. But Mr. Wonderful and I have been together five years. Before that I was with Superman Lover for five years too. I am no stranger to a committed long term relationship, and as far as I'm concerned the only thing that makes Mr. Wonderful and I any different from any other married couple is a piece of paper and the fact we don't live under the same roof. We have a good relationship, but it is far from perfect. We have been together long enough we have seen the ugly truths most people don't see until after they're married. We fight, and we've butted heads many times on how we'll raise our kids, where we'll live, how we'll spend our money, and much more. There have been numerous occasions that I have asked myself why the hell I'm with this man. I'm sure he has thought the same about me. The flame has burned both white hot and flickered down to almost nothing, but at the end of the day he is my partner. We will be with each other the rest of our lives and into the Eternities together. As crazy as we make each other, we love each other and want what we have to work-we are committed to making it work.

I can still remember how I felt the first time he kissed me all those years ago. I can still remember the 'newlywed' stage in our relationship and how excited I still am to see him after work. It's all those times that remind me of why I'm still here and why I want to stay. I just don't understand why some people have no problem walking away-especially after they've stood before each other, their families and loved ones, and GOD and promised to everyone they would love, honor, and cherish in good times and bad, in sickness and health, yadda yadda yadda, and then built lives, homes, started families with each other, just to throw it away because it got too hard and you don't want to try anymore. I guess if you say you're bored or done those void everything, yes?

I'm sorry if I offended anyone, that was NOT my intent. I'm just so sick of people who don't take their marriages seriously and view them on the same level as their garbage.

Oy. I'll get off my soap box now.