Moving in with your significant other

I lived with my best friend, it was a good experience, I just can't imagine living with someone I'm dating. I think that's what bothers me the most about marriage. See, having your girlfriend/boyfriend stay over every night of the week is different from living together because neither of you have any place else of your own to retreat to when you're both in need of seperation.

Not that silence and retreating into your own little world will solve your problems, but sometimes you need time to cool off and approach things more rationally. That's why it takes force of will to overcome the difficulties you may have with frustration. There's always going to be habits or traits you don't particularly like, that the other person has, that don't become apparent until you live with them.

The thing is, these frustrations won't arise until you've lived together for awhile. Because it WILL be a lot of fun for a while, but then that will eventually give way to routine and that's when it all hangs out.

One thing that would help, I think, is moving in with not just your partner, but maybe another roommate or two. Makes things better, in my opinion. Also, the more roommates you have, the easier it would be to get a bigger place. Something about having other people in the house makes it unconfined, you don't ever feel "trapped" with the other person. If they're also friends of yours or you become friends, if you do need to vent, there's always someone to help you with that.

Like I said before, I've never truly shared a place with anyone I've been in a relationship, but I've had relationships where she would basically live at my place and having other roommates made it a lot more fun.

Jam it back in, in the dark.