At the wedding reception, though, my parents pushed me to join the crowd of women hoping to catch the bride's bouquet. Beside the fact that my nerves were raw after three days with my parents, the suggestion that I try to grab the bouquet was absolutely nauseating. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and I escaped in search of a piece of chocolate cake. I just don't find the traditional definition of marriage appealing. Independence is very important to me, and I don't like to share my cookies with anyone, much less agree to devote myself to only one person for the rest of my life just because it's expected.
Marriage causes more problems than it's worth, including a high divorce rate.
It's the label, the ineffectiveness and official-ness of it all that creeps me out. Getting the government and a church involved just to declare your love for someone is a high price to pay for a big party, some tax refunds and the often-inevitable divorce. Catching that bouquet would have been too much for me to handle, like my mom would have taken that as the official word to start calling caterers or something. But so many people, even younger than me, are engaged, married or juiced up to pop the question. I find myself scanning the marriage notices for high school friends when the weekly copy of my hometown newspaper arrives in my mailbox.