Ultimatum for marriage?

Meandering through the morning shows today, I noted that The View had a hot topic about how some women have a "time limit for engagements."

Let me kick in my own opinion on this one....

I did have a "time limit" of how long I'd date someone. I did NOT tell the people I was dating that I had a time limit. So there was NO pressure on the person I was dating. My personal time limit was my period of time that I'd go out with someone to determine if I wanted to have a long-term relationship with this person or not. Was this person someone I wanted to be with the rest of my life? Was this person someone I connected with? Was this a person who I wanted to have children with? Those were the questions I had to have answered in my own mind within my time limit.

And how long was my time limit? TWO YEARS...give or take a few months.

I also had a rule that I would never live with someone before I was married. Hey, I figured that I'd be single my entire life. Yes, SINGLE! That's how I structured my life too. After college, I worked on building my career experience and saving for my own place. I lived with my folks, so that's how I could save money for a home. And me living with my parents? I come from VERY conservative parents, so having to pick me up for dates pretty much scared off any riff-raff who didn't want to develop a REAL long-term relationship.

The Hubs? I didn't know he was going to ask me to be his wife. I didn't. We didn't discuss marriage at all really. So it surprised me when he asked me. He actually asked me out for a fancy dinner for Valentine's Day. We normally didn't do fancy stuff for our dates. We were pretty casual when we were dating. So a fancy dinner for Valentine's was a nice change. He got down on his knee when he was dropping me off at my condo. SURPRISE! Total surprise. I mean, he picked out the ring all on his own so I didn't have a clue.

And when did he ask me? Right at the two year mark. He did! By our two year anniversary, he knew I was the one. By the two year mark, I knew he was the one. We both knew. But we never pressured the other one about it. Go figure? I guess we were on the same wavelength. Made for each other!

We did end up having a year-long engagement. Not six months, like Sis#2. I needed a year to get organized and have enough money to pay for everything.

In the end, we were together 3 years before we tied the knot.

Now, did you have a "time limit" when you were dating? How long did YOU date your spouse? How long was your engagement?