I'll never again watch gay brokeback sex with the same enjoyment...okay fine I will still enjoy it, but there will be a twinge of sadness.

Are you still interested in the whole breeding thing?
Right now? Not at all.
Later?
I think that I might were I ever to get married but maybe not...I really have no interest in marriage right now either. I always thought interest in marriage required a second party who merited the act. For some it's different I suppose.
Really? Interesting theory.

The above is a chunk of a conversation with my best friend from high school (the one for whom I joined Myspace in order to reestablish contact.)

Alaska Girl has is and always has been my most feminist, atheistic friend. As with many of my friends, I don't really understand why we get along so well. Maybe I'm more like them than I realize. Historically, AG has been anti-marriage, and I have been the contrary.

She has been dating a guy for a while. He is in his mid 30's and seems to take life from the, "I'm not getting any younger" stance. Naturally, he's ready to fish or cut bait. On some days, AG wants to marry him, and on others, she feels it's a bad, bad idea.

Do you get lonely?
All the time.
I really don't.
That's great isn't it? I thought it's what most people want in life.
Kinda makes me wonder why I'm trying for something that doesn't fit.
Are you really though? People are complicated; we aren't two dimensional puzzle pieces. Most of us need contradicting things.
That's a good point.
Solitude and companionship. Heat and the absence of heat. We're dependent on oxygen, and yet it is what kills us.
That's the most eloquent thing an engineer has ever said to me.
That's not saying much...

Whether people realize it or not, marriage represents a big change in lifestyle (at least from what I know and have seen). I think it's healthy for people to realize that, like monogamy, marriage requires a new set of sacrifices. It's not necessarily good or bad; it's just different. It does wonders for some and horrors for others.

As I remind people incessantly, a happy life is as much about figuring out what makes us happy as it is finding those things. I hope AG can figure out if it's worth it and be content that she's made the right decision, but part of me feels that she's in for a rough time no matter what she does.

I guess that's part of growing up.