I was asked to contribute to this story through the Public Insight Network but I didn't because I felt my marriage was too "new" to give good insight (only married 2.5 years, together for 5). But now I wish I had to maybe give some variety to this story. It might be that the trend of marrying older is true, but I don't see it necessarily in my peer group. I'm very young; my marriage looked far more like the 23-20 numbers they used to describe the 60s marriage ages. We have not been able to travel the world yet; we are not in high-earning careers yet, nor did we wait and wait and wait until we could be deemed emotionally mature as described here.
But as I said to those who balked at my engagement, if the person I was marrying I'm some way prevented me from traveling the world, why would I marry them? Our combined incomes and experience are an asset which make me more likely to achieve success than if I were on my own. And although we aren't rich yet, each of us have given the other the means financially and the emotional support necessary to pursue college (while working) and climb the socio-economic ladder together. Rather than feeling like I have missed opportunities, I feel that my peers who stigmatize my relationship are blind to the benefits that sharing a life can offer.
And when people ask me whether I fear the inevitable change each of us will face as we grow older and our goals change, I am flabbergasted that they would think anyone of any age group is immune to major life change. Middle age can be as much a time of "storm and stress" as adolescence, and like adolescence, it can easily be interpreted as a social construct. Rather than fearing that change, I look forward to it, knowing that when my husband and I got married, we were marrying not only the person in front of us, but all of the possible selves we could be.
Further, people associate early marriage with poor family planning. My husband and I, because of our young ages, now have the privilege of waiting as long as is necessary before having children, including making sure our relationship is strong and will last. And we won't have to concern ourselves necessarily with many common fertility issues that I know can be pervasive, if it turns out we're both healthy all in all. There won't be that crushing weight of needing to get pregnant before it's too late.
I wish I had submitted something to them. Besides the age issue, these people are clearly very rich (3rd generation Wall Street?) and the entire article seems to focus on money as the thing that keeps marriage together, and I feel like it would have been more interesting or relatable to look for some other factors, even if those aren't the #1 factor.
Anyway, still a positive statistic nonetheless! Good on us, Colorado!