playing house essay by denise leight

Living Together Before Marriage Morals , Money , and a Major Choice

Living Together Before Marriage Morals , Money , and a Major Choice Not long ago , a choice of my survival had to be made . Many single men and women struggle , not only in relationships , but with money issues especially if they are in college or starting out as a young adult in the world . In college , I had the choice to live with my significant other or to manage on my own . I am sure others , not only myself , view managing ' their lives

in roughly the same terms . Being alone makes one independent , but lonely . Living alone , can be very empowering , but discouraging in terms of money . Then there is always the factor of what others may think on the outside . So , here in a college town , where many choices made individually are overlooked externally due to our youth , it was not only me , but society that was influencing my choice

So , I had to choose , live with my significant other , who could have alleviated my loneliness and ameliorated my bills or live alone and forge on with my own terms , however daunting they may be . I pondered this for some time , probably longer than others in my peer group , who look at stepping in cohabitation as some right of passage that proves you are older and committed to something more than you are already But , I did not care what my cohorts thought , this was my decision . I did , however , consider my partner 's role in all of this and how this would affect our futures

Of course , we weren 't deciding to get married or even playing house to see if we could get closer to that point . So , the decision became easier to make once I realized that . This was my friend and confidante but not the person I could imagine spending the rest of my life with Yes , we would get along and even pretend to the outside world to be in love , I suppose . But , this would be nothing more than a fascade and we both knew it . But , the pressures that were building up around us in our growing adulthood had made us reach ever farther out for something flailing around for a bedrock that made us strong . We felt strong together , but that was not the role suited for either of us . We were just too young . I had no right to put more pressure on my friend , my pretend soul mate . When searching for the truth in the world , we could not lie to each other too

In my eyes , I wasn 't looking for my soul mate to be there for me each and every day , I was looking for someone to help square up my life . I felt bond by the circle that had only me in it , a nice-looking circle from the outside , but hollowness inside . I needed to fill it up , not square it up . I thought that maybe moving...