By Billy S. Garland
Life is a funny thing. I, like most men, started out as an obnoxious little boy holding all girls responsible for infesting the world with deadly cooties. As I grew up, I slowly started to take notice of the more redeeming aspects of the female gender. Soon I was entirely willing to risk contamination. Then, as I entered my 20s, I found myself doing the unthinkable—actually moving in with a girl. Thankfully, I seem to have a high tolerance for cooties because, even though I didn’t know it when I was signing the lease, this would turn out to be the best decision I have ever made.
Cohabitation is the politically correct term for what my grandmother lovingly referred to as “shacking up.” For many college students in today’s society, this is how they choose to live. Unsurprisingly, statistics suggest that the majority of these relationships don’t end well. It is no easy matter to adjust to living with someone from a different background. But it tends to be even more difficult to live with someone of the opposite sex.
In my case, I had to learn to handle a massive tangle of blow dryers, curlers and various other beauty products cluttering up the bathroom sink. She, on the other hand, had to put up with my bad habit of leaving socks strewn throughout the house. I had to learn to love flowery bed sheets and shower curtains, while she had to learn to pretend to like Jackie Chan movies.
Defining your jobs and duties is another stressor. For instance, I am responsible for the cat boxes. I’m not even that much of a cat person. She handles the dishes because I tend to leave things stuck to the plate. And that’s just gross.
Admittedly, we struggled in the early days. But we pushed through and in the end the chores actually got done.
Despite the downsides and rough patches involved in moving in with that special someone, it is important to point out that sometimes it’s all worth it. To me, she was worth putting up with cat poop duty. I am truly lucky and blessed that in this little social experiment of ours, I found my best friend, my better half and my wife.
I am not in any way suggesting that everyone should follow our example. Like I said, I got lucky. Still, I think that in today’s society, cohabitation makes sense.
Although as of yet unlabeled, our generation has a very short attention span. We have been trained by microwaves and the Internet to expect results quickly. Unfortunately, when applied to the traditional model of marriage, this mindset is dangerous. Every year millions of marriages end in divorce because, while the two involved may love each other, they simply are not suited to live together.
One benefit of cohabitation is that if it doesn’t work out, the pain and difficulty of divorce can still be avoided. It is important to remember that it can work out, if both parties involved keep in mind why they took their relationship to this level in the first place. Love doesn’t come easily. Be warned that if you move in with your partner, there are going to be days when you’ll wonder what you were thinking. But life is like Christmas, far too short not to spend with someone you love.
