A German politician recently suggested that marriages should have a 7-year expiration date, at which time a couple can renew their license or part ways. This suggestion has not met with much support by her party. Absurd as it sounds, I can see her point.
As a singleton I’ve often wondered how anyone, my brilliant friends included, can make the decision to spend the rest of their lives with one person. Given the divorce rate, half of them will likely realize they made the wrong decision, but a portion of them really will spend the next 50 or so years with the same man or woman. Given how much I’ve changed as a person in the past 10 years, I just don’t see how it would be possible for one person to grow in tandem with me over that time span. Drifting would be inevitable.
Seven year blocks are actually fundamental in breaking up your life cycle.
- 7 y.o — you’re in school full time, shifting the bulk of your waking hours away from family
- 14 y.o — you’re a teenager; angst is your friend
- 21 — you’re an adult; you’re out of college; you’re finding yourself sucker punched by a real world that was advertised as something entirely different
- 28 — statistics say, you’re married. Average age of marriage is now mid to late 20s for men and women.
- 35 — you’ve started a family of your own; priorities have shifted
- 42 — middle age; your body isn’t what it used to be
- 49 — you’re starting to think about the empty nest, because the kids are growing up SO fast
- 56 — your kids are likely out of college; these days they boomerang back home
- 63 — grandpa, you’re looking at retirement; the structure of your entire day is going to change dramatically
- 70 — you’ve picked out your retirement village
- 77 — doing the doctor circuit keeps you busy
- 85 — you just might be the last man standing in your social circle (hi, grandma!)
So a 7 year marriage seems reasonable. It would also transform the world of pre-nups as you’d not only have to take into account a devastating split, but one in which both parties grew apart and decided not to renew their marriage.
What do you think? Would a seven year license, with an option to renew, keep the marriage fired up and alive? Or is it a lame demonstration of our increasingly short attention spans? Do you agree with the age breaks above? Or would you make a few changes?
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