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I (22F) always knew I wanted to get married. My boyfriend (23M) of three years didn't want to at fir (by Sparky)

 Sparky (0)  (29 / M-F / Massachusetts)
10-Jan-21 12:30 am
I (22F) always knew I wanted to get married. My boyfriend (23M) of three years didn't want to at first, but then said he also wanted to, about 1,5 year ago. We are still not engaged.

Sorry about the wall of text. Oops.
Tl:Dr Been together three years, said I want to get married from the start. He agreed after a while, but still haven't proposed. How do I deal with my disappointment, and the feeling that the relationship is at a standstill?
Hello. I know we might seem young, and I also know I might be too focused on time, which is what I would like your perspective about.
My boyfriend (23M), let's call him Dave, and I (22F), have been together for three years next week. We have known each other since we were 16 and 17.
We are both the type of people who thinks that we want this relationship to last, we don't see a need to date other people while we are young just because, we don't really party, and we want to be with each other for the rest of our lives. My parents sometimes laugh at us and says we seem older than them (50ies).
Overall, we have a very good relationship, and for the most part, I think we are on the same page.
To the "problem". I have always known that I want to marry a future partner, before having kids. I also want it to happen within a certain time, not an exact time, but I would rather not be together for several years, then engaged for two+ years, and then finally get married. I have told Dave this, mainly to I form him. In the beginning, he didn't see the need for a traditional marriage. He said he didn't want the state involved, an it should be a promise between to people. I totally understand that idea, but I think it is an idolised and romanticised picture of a relationship. A marriage actually do create benefits, specially for children and regarding heritage. It's a security. I told him this, and it seemed like he understood and after a while even agreed. To be clear, when talking about marriage so early on, it wasn't directly about our relationship, it was about relationshipgoals in general.
Since then, we have planned our lives together. It was about two years ago that he agreed to marriage. I really thought he would have asked some time last year, since it was a lot of "cool dates" ( like 2020.02.02, or 2020.10.10), and I also hinted at those dates in a rather nice way, I think. However, he didn't ask. We soon celebrate our three year anniversary of being together, and a couple of months ago, when I realised it probably wouldn't happen during 2020, I told him that I thought our three year anniversary would be a great day to get engaged. He said perhaps, and then I didn't bring it up again. We booked a romantic weekend at an hotel, with a romantic dinner and spa. Sometime around the planning of this trip, a good friend told me about her engagement, and she and her fiance went to an hotel, he asked and it was super romantic. I told my partner about this, wishing he would get the hint.
I now know he won't pop the question next weekend. He's told me it will happen later. I don't really doubt him, it's just... I am really disappointed. I am sad. And I feel rather stupid for not just letting it be and let him do it at his own pace.
You might wonder why I don't ask him myself. I don't want to, since I was the one who said I want to get married, while he doubted at first. If I were to ask, I feel like I would push him even further. I don't want to push him. I hope he ask out of his own free will.
Does any of you have any advice on how I can deal with my feelings of disappointment? I know it's not fair to him that I constantly go around wishing for him to propose. Is there anything else I could focus on, instead of an hypothetical engagement? I feel like our relationship is in a type of standstill. Is there anything I could do to "bring some action to our relationship", or to change my way of thinking? Thank you in advance for any advice

 

 

 
 
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