Relationships

I have a classmate this semester who has the same schedule as I do. We have almost 2-1/2 hours between work and class, so we decided to hang out together during this time, and we managed to arrange it so that we are doing a group presentation together, since we have the same free time to work on it.

We hung out yesterday and were talking about relationships and dating. She has been with the same guy for five years now (their fifth anniversary was last week). They are currently living together and starting to talk about buying a house together. However, she mentioned that her boyfriend gets very irritated whenever she mentions marriage. He's not ready and doesn't even want to discuss it. And she would really like to get married - she feels it the natural next step.

I don't understand this fear of marriage that she receives from him - they are committed and have been together for a long time now. But I suppose that he doesn't feel the need, since they are together now and she doesn't pressure him much due to his reactions.

I explained frum dating to her, and how goal-oriented it is. She was impressed. I feel a little sorry for her, because I don't feel like her relationship is where she would like it to be, but I don't think she knows what to do.