'Tis the season to be desperate?

I don't know why the thought popped into my head today, but it did.

It's the holiday season and a lot of engagements will be happening. There are jewelry ads everywhere telling men to get thier significant others that big rock of commitment this holiday season. And...I'm sure a lot of women are dropping some pretty heavy hints that they would like a big rock for the holidays, and I'm not referring to a lump of coal.

All of this drew me back to a conversation I had over a "philosopical beer(or 3)" with Erika in college. Erika and I liked to go to the bars as a pair and have long talks about life, men, and make up stories about people we would see in the bar. Besides the ever frequent conversation of the Theory of Two and the Theory of the Untied Shoelaces, we frequently discussed why girls were so desperate to get engaged and guys were so laid back about it.

The conclusion we came to was this: Traditionally the male askes the female to get married. This puts all of the control in the male's court. So, if a guy decides that he wants to get married, he can go out and find any woman desperate to get married and his wish is fulfilled. However, most girls go on long searches for the "perfect" guy that flys in on a white horse with a rainbow of colors flying behind. Once she finds this guy, she has to convince him that she is the perfect girl for him...so he will eventually propose and they can live happily ever after. But what if he decides that after 3 years of dating, she isn't the one he wants to marry or he isn't ready to settle down yet and they break up? She has to start her search all over again. Pretty depressing, huh?

Well, so to combat this, Erika and I decided that we WILL get married someday. No looking. It will happen...IF we want it to.