I think it's just a word. And there's a lot of grey area.
Like you - I consider myself in a committed relationship - as good as married, almost. Not out looking - that's for sure.
In Canada - if you've lived with someone for a year or more you are "cohabiting" and in a Common Law Marriage. You have all the legal rights of a married couple.
I would prefer to get married. This is one thing Josh has put the brakes on - for whatever reason. He has never said NO. But it has been 9 years and there's no ring either. Usually - I'm fine with it but recently this scene went down.
We were at Customs at Toronto Airport - ready to fly to Florida. We had been told to fill out a Customs card - one per family. We went back and forth on "family" and filled out 2 cards just in case but were told by 3 agents - one card is fine. When I approached the Customs officer (and Josh was right behind me) he asked "are you 2 married" to which I replied "common law" and he very rudely told Josh to go to a different line and told me "In the U.S. - we do NOT recognize common law"! OUCH - that bummed me out for days.
Sorry for the hijack - it's a touchy subject with me.
To fully answer you - in my opinion - YES - you are single and can do the fun things with your single friends (except looking for or flirting with men) but you have the comfort and enjoyment of your partner in your committed relationship. & I'm so happy for you!
