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<p>Oh, I thought that “year of graduation” was referring to college graduation. Yes, that does make it less likely that she’s older!</p>
<p>I’m glad that attitudes have changed toward cohabitation. I’m engaged right now, and I couldn’t imagine agreeing to marry someone without having lived with them first!</p>
<p>To me, “engaged” means that the people are planning to get married, that they have the intention. I don’t care whether their wedding is four weeks or four years in the future. I don’t care whether either of them has a ring - I love my ring, and I hope my fiance will love his ring/necklace/bracelet/whatever he picks out for me to get him once we find something he likes, but I think the idea that people need “hardware” to be considered engaged is absurd.</p>
<p>I didn’t live with H before getting married; that wasn’t done back then, and was somewhat scandalous. In hindsight, I wish I had.</p>
<p>I wonder if the person in the engagement announcement is just unemployed? The term housewife is a bit more palatable to most people. I personally would rather be considered unemployed because the term housewife to me brings up a picture of a subservient woman that spends her day cleaning the house. I was a stay at home Mom for a long time, but I never wanted to consider myself a homemaker or housewife.</p>
<p>My mother-in-law was fiercely proud of calling herself a “homemaker” not a “housewife” since she “wasn’t married to a house.” She was proud of creating a home for her sons, husband and herself. She rarely coudl be found “staying at home” and was more likely on some kind of charitable or school-related mission on behalf of her brood. She never stayed still even inside her home. </p>
<p>Now I like it when people say “stay at home Mom” because to me it has a sound of pride to it.</p>
<p>I have had to move often, entire family in tow, for H’s career, meanwhile doing the best I can with my own. When I say I’m “between houses” I don’t think it makes much sense to folks. I would actually like to be married to a house, in that I’m weary of all the moving around.</p>