Bingo. This was my take before I met my wife and early in our relationship. When it came time to talk about the future and we discussed marriage I asked what she wanted. For my part, I told her that I didn’t need a piece of paper from the government or a magic ceremony to commit myself to her fully.

She wanted a wedding and marriage and I wanted to give that to her. It was immediate family only, at home, with a retired judge performing a ceremony we wrote.

From a legal perspective it can be immensely more complicated long term and will almost certainly be financially more disadvantageous within the US system if you’re American to not be married.

Any kind of forced or mandated treatment for drug/alcohol users by law is wrong and punishing people for refusing treatment is also wrong.

I actually like vinegar by itself but it’s too potent to just drink it straight. Instead I’ll get a bunch of green onions and let them soak in the vinegar, then I suck the vinegar out of the green onions and enjoy the onion itself as a crunchy snack after.

My wife behaves very similarly. Often she apologizes for things that I don’t even register. It’s a difference in how we grew up. I’ve mostly settled on ignoring it now but early on I encouraged her to think about who she’s apologizing for, and if she’s doing it for me I encouraged her to stop. Not only do I not need it, most of the time I don’t even notice whatever minor transgression occurred she thinks needs to be apologized for.

Now if she does it the apologies mostly go unnoticed too because it’s not for or about me, and if it’s what she’s comfortable doing then that’s ok.