Maybe I should always write about relationships...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)*

So here's a question posed by my inimitable grandfather:

"Why do persons in the bigger cities get married later in life?" Conversely, "Why do people in Middle America get married in their early twenties?"

(As a side note, my dear grandfather is a fan of the early-twenties bracket and both he and Grandma are starting to view me as an anomaly.)

Trevs and I hashed this out, both with different theories...

Trevs' thoughts tend more to the "Larger Dating Pool Hypothesis," in which he argues that people in the larger metropolises can date more people. Because there are more people, there are more social circles. The expanded social circles give you the option of moving from one relationship to another without the awkwardness and social ostracism that so often follows a break-up in more rural America.

For example, here, if I date someone (and I have), there is a certain dating pool of acquaintances that becomes "polluted" when the relationship ends. People consciously, (or unconsciously) take sides. All future relationships are measured against the previous ones, and everyone knows everyone else and talks about everyone else. It may be a sad side-effect, true. Although it's not always negative; it's close to inevitable. And there's no where else to go. The number of single, evangelical, growing, desirable persons are usually confined to a fairly limited group. (There are only a certain number of single, evangelical, growing, desirable persons in every 10,000 of any populace.)

Go to a bigger city- more 10,000s of people, hence more single, evangelical, growing, desirable persons. More people to date, so you date longer before running out of options. This is Trevor's hypothesis.

My theory is completely different: As a general rule (GENERAL!) young twenty-somethings in a city moved there because they are extremely career driven. You do what you need to do to climb whatever ladder you're on, and you do it when you have the most energy and drive. Family can wait. It is socially acceptable to focus on your career, so they do. In middle-America, it's more puzzling when you're crazily-career driven. Many of our social outlets revolve around family, not career. So, you don't get married until later because that's completely acceptable and expected because you're "establishing" yourself.



I think I need to move to a city. I'm tired of my growing anomaly-ness.




*I love how Jane Austen will never cease to be relevant...