To Eight Years!

Eight years ago, we had our civil wedding. We only celebrate our church wedding date, but here a few thoughts on marriage.

Unlike in Scandinavia, Germany does not accept "partnerships" as a legal status, and hence you only get all state benefits of being a couple if you are married. In Berlin, gay couples can marry as well.

Germany encourages marriages through its tax law, which I have written about already. Having completed our tax declaration a few days ago (guilty of not participating this year in this ordeal), my husband calculated that being married saves us 600 euros, per month!

I wonder whether the high number of divorces here is due to couples marrying for the "wrong" reasons, i.e. this tax incentive. On the other hand, what are the right reasons? There's a lot of literature on how "romantic" marriages are a very recent phenomenon, and in many countries this is still not the case. My father has told the story that at his own wedding, my grandfather held a speech about "a marriage being an economic union".

Having three small kids, we often feel like have very little time to be more than a "team" or "economic union" or what not. However, this ring on my finger reminds me each day that we are definitely and certainly more than this.

This ring also reminds me of the only day in my life where my family and all of my friends have been in one place at the same time.

Gratitude. And love.