What is marriage really?

I'm not completely against it, but I feel it is really overrated. I think if you want to stay together with your partner forever... You can simply stay together forever. When marriage comes into the picture, things get unnecessarily complicated. Most of the marriages in my family turned out into some kind of disaster. Even the ones that don't turn out into a complete disaster slowly degenerate, until the "bride and groom" separate, and start sleeping in different places.

In my house, my parents have been separated some years after I came along. They only stayed together because of my sister and I, and it showed. Sometimes I even feel a bit guilty about it even though there is nothing I can or could have done, but its depressing thinking about how they stayed miserable all those years just to try and keep up a front, and help everyone stay together. I'm really appreciative of that even though I never told either of them --we don't speak to each other that way.

I can agree with the idea of marriage (at least, one perspective of it); two people who want to profess their love for each other and celebrate it with family and friends. My father once even sat me and my sister down and told us not to get married. I thought this was really funny, and he laughed along with me but I knew he was being serious. I rarely "obeyed" him or listened to what he advised me to do, but this is one piece of advice I might end up following.