For me, a relationship whose foundation started on friendship is the best foundation of all. You get to know each other better even before you develop feelings for one another.
I have friends whose relationship is a whirlwind romance and much to my amazement, honestly, it worked out just fine for them. As far as I can see, they are happily married.
Couple #1:
One of my best friend in high school met her husband through "kai siao" (introduction by parents), 6 months later, they were married. You see, my friend's grandma died, and based on chinese tradition, its either they got married within the first 100 days or wait for 2 years. They opted option #1. Now they got 3 lovely kids and still very much married after 11 years!
Couple #2:
An ex-officemate of mine, who was on a rebound at that time, met her husband and was married within 8 months from the first time they met. Her ultimate goal was to get married and be a wife and mother. She never liked working. I was telling her to wait a little bit longer since she's still very young (22 at that time) and if I'm not mistaken there's a 9 years age gap. During the first 2 years of their married life, she still talks about her ex, which scared me because I felt that she hasn't fully recovered from that relationship. Now, 12 years later and 2 kids, they are still the same as the first time they met.
Couple #3:
The girl is a single mom... she joined one of those "seeking mate" online thing and met her husband, a foreigner there. He was divorce with 2 kids. It was a long distance relationship. They exchange emails and phone calls... and the first time they met in person, they have to get married so that she can get a visa to go to Europe with him. Everything happen in a span of 10 months. That was 5 years ago. They have 1 child together.
... oOo ...Someone close to the family is currently experiencing this same situation. The guy is in his late 30s. The girl is a single mom of a 1-year old girl and in her mid 30s. They met through the internet, 2 months ago, and set-up their wedding date this coming October. Too fast too soon?
The guy thinks he's not at the losing end, in fact, he said he even got a "bonus" (meaning the child).
I think the girl is taking advantage of him. She is obviously on a rebound. Currently jobless and has a 1-year old baby.
Everybody on the guy's family wanted them to wait for a couple more months to get to know each other and get married sometime next year.
As for the girl's side, I don't really know how her parents could allow her to get married after a failed relationship that ended up with a baby. The guy have met the girl's family and friends... but the guy's family (so far) haven't met the girl and her family yet.
They are already both in their 30s, there's no need to rush into marriage just because they think they are getting older and their biological clock is ticking... what's a couple more months, right? and what's the big rush to get married?
What's you take on this one? Am I/the family being too naive and/or conservative? Or is this the "in" thing now-a-days?
I can just hope and pray that they know what they are doing and this isn't something they will regret later on.
