Thoughts on Marriage

It's sad that people view marriage with such a flippant attitude. For a long time I thought it was just something you did when you loved someone. When I was ready to marry my fiancee, she wanted to get married in the catholic church. I asked if I had to convert, and she said no. They really don't have an issue if you've been baptized, and I had.
They do however, require some 'training', which for some churches can be two years, where others can be 6 months. Ours was about 9 months, but I learned SO much more about her (and me) during that time. There was a 'test' at the beginning in which you answered several question based on your beliefs about things that often cause people to separate: money, kids, housing, jobs, careers, sex, etc.
This was tremendously helpful (even though it seemed pretty lame at the time) because it got us talking about issues we needed to. It was pretty funny though, because the priest we were working with said we were the most compatible couple he'd worked with so far! Still, our biggest issue was money at the time. Just out of college, we were both looking at careers, and we were both pretty frightened given the current job market (still are!).
We also had to learn about Natural Family Planning, a method of birth control recommended by the church (mandatory to not live in sin). It shows that the woman is infertile during a span of time every cycle. This is very tough to practice, but I promised her we'd try. It's been going well, but I still struggle with it.
We also had what the church calls 'Evenings for he Engaged', where you meet another couple in the church and they talk with you (and other couples) about the practicalities of being married, what comes up along the way, and how to deal with it and stay together.
I feel so much more sure than I did before entering the classes than I did when we got engaged that we made the right decision.
As was mentioned before, it isn't just love, but trust and sacrifice that make a marriage work. Most couples break apart due to the sacrifice protion, because they aren't willing to sacrifice a job, their time, money, etc for the good of the couple.
I thought the classes were really lame before I went, and was peeved that I had to go, but it helped me mature and know more about my wife's faith. It inspired me so much that now I am entering the Catholic Church as well!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

BTW, LOVED that South Park!
Anyway, I'm certainly not entering the church based SOLELY on getting to know my wife better. Several of the church's doctrines on serious matters spoke to me during the process and I wanted to know more, so I pursued it further by taking the RCIA class (Rite of Catholic Initiation of Adults).

There's nowhere I can't reach.