[DST Love]

Well what's most important is that people do what is best for their lives. But no, my issue with shacking up is not sex. It's all the things that I posted before.

Why take away the respect of being married by PLAYING married?

Believe me, you should and would know the most important things prior to marriage without living together. Again, believe me, you will know if someone is paying their bills on time if you are in a SERIOUS relationship long enough. If the bills and financial situation is so important (which it should be) then why can't people do what I stated earlier? That is whip out the bills, statements, credit reports, etc. My fiance and I have been seen each others financial statements. Plus I know how he lives his life, I know his family upbringing and I know what is most important to him when it comes to finances. Same goes for him to me. And I not only KNOW how he lives, I SEE how he lives. And no, he's not fronting nor am I because one can only do so much fronting before the truth starts to come to light in time anyway.

And I am marrying my high school/college/adulthood sweetheart. We are both 25 years old. Some may say it's about time. But you know what we were doing and you know what are parents knew we were doing? We wanted to build ourselves individually, grow, learn, become self sufficient and experience the good and bad parts of life as individuals (even though we were together) before getting married. It puts things in a better perspective and allows you to gain more knowledge about life. That's what you do before you get married and then you will be more prepared for marriage.

Please don't think I am tryiing to persuade you or anyone else. I respect your opinion. I am just a person that likes a good debate. Again, through all this and my opinions, I still believe that people shoud do what is best for them. And if one believes the only way their potential marriage can work is by living with someone prior to marriage, then they should do what they feel they need to do.