Marriage - Do we CELEBRATE the wrong thing?

So as a society we put a huge emphasis on weddings. Billions of dollars and possibly even trillions are spent annually on weddings. But stop and ask yourself what exactly your celebrating? The people getting married are NOT married and have likely not accomplished anything yet as a couple. So why are we celebrating possibly two immature kids getting married? I think we celebrate the wrong thing, shouldn't we really be celebrating and spending thousands of dollars on the couple that have been married 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 , even 50 years? Isn't that really something to celebrate? Over that time period they have most likely endured challenges in their married life and yet still overcame those obstacles and stayed married even while the other couple that got married the same day is now divorced. I think we as society contribute to the disgraceful divorce rate by having these lavish weddings and huge celebrations and not focusing on celebrating the anniversary which is the REAL accomplishment.

If your married and have an upcoming anniversary, it is you we should celebrate, congratulations on your accomplishment and overcoming the obstacles.

If your fixing to get married, realize you have not accomplished a DAMN thing. Walking down the aisle is just the beginning. Your marriage could be your greastest accomplishment in life so put the time into every day to make it a success. It will sometimes be a tough road but that should be embraced and you should work through the tough times and celebrate even more the good times.

If your son or daughter is getting married, it's wonderful, but take the time with your son or daughter and future son/daughter in law to sit down and discuss that the real celebration is not the party itself but becoming life partners in good times and bad, and in sickness and in health. Marriage is not about the I, it is about the we. Embrace that.

I feel the same way about graduation celebrations. We should celebrate not at graduation but after they have taken what they learned in college or in high school or in grad school and have applied that work and knowledge in getting a job and more importantly in keeping that job.

It's time we reevaluate what we celebrate and when.