People Who Had A "Marriage Pact" Are Sharing What Happened When They Got Older, And I'm Speechless
Love stories happen in many ways, but throw a marriage pact in the mix and things can get really interesting. When Reddit user OverMyRedBody asked, "People who made a marriage pact with someone and went through with it, how did it go?" tons shared experiences about true love and heartbreak. Here's what they had to say:
Note: Some submissions are from this Reddit thread.
1."Best friends since we were young. We always had crushes on each other off and on. In high school, our timing was awful, and we never ended up dating, but we did make a marriage pact. If we were both single at 30, we'd get married. Some years passed. We moved away, grew distant, and dated other people. Long story short, we're now back in each other's lives and I'm reasonably sure we'll make good on the pact earlier than originally anticipated."
2."We made this agreement at 16 to marry at 35. We started dating at 26, and it'll be two years next week. She wants to get married a little earlier than 35 now."
3."We married young and have two kids together. We parent well together and there's no one else that I could handle days-long road trips with, but we suck at marriage. We jokingly made a divorce pact for 2020, thinking we would both still be young enough to enjoy going out and would have gotten the kids through some of the tougher transitional times of adolescence. As it turned out, we made it only a year longer than our pact and are currently ending our marriage. But there is no one I'd rather work peacefully through this with than him, whether in 2020 or today."
4."When I was a sophomore, I made that exact pact with a woman I was casually dating. She was a gorgeous, tall redhead with a tendency to be overdramatic. She was the first woman I was ever obsessed with in my adult life. We wrote the pact, signed it, and got someone in our dorm to act as our witness. Several years after graduation, I brought it up to her when we met for a drink and she said she'd never speak to me if I ever mentioned it again. When I ran into her during a college reunion last year, I realized I no longer had any feelings for her, which was a pleasant surprise. During the pandemic, I was going through some old papers and found the pact."
5."My friend and I got drunk one night and said, 'If we're single in five years let's get married.' Five years later we got married and dated for two years before that. We just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary and have a baby girl and an amazing life!"
6."My wife said she made this pact with a guy who took it seriously. We went to high school together, so I know of him, and he randomly called 10 years later and asked my wife if she was still with me. She said yes, he hung up, and we haven't heard from him since. That I know of anyway, there's always that one percent chance of something."
7."My boyfriend and I had one in middle school. In seventh grade, we agreed we'd be friends no matter what happened in high school or after. We dated through eighth grade and the beginning of freshman year, but broke up and didn't talk for three years. We started talking, and after about four months, we started dating again. We're two years into the relationship, have a 7-month-old daughter, and are working on getting a place together."
8."I made this pact with my best friend in high school. Several years later we ended up together long before the time frame was up. We will be married next year."
9."My wife and I made the pact at 15. We led different lives after high school. I went to the army and she moved to California. Somehow 10 years after the pact, we ended up in the same area again and started dating. Rushed it by five years but it was worth it."
10."I had one of these with a friend. I'm now 33 and he's 35 and neither of us is married. I don't want to marry him after all, and he doesn't seem to want to marry me either. We were 17 and 19 when we made the pact."
11."When we were 25, one of my best friends and I decided that at 35, we'd get married if we were still single. She moved back to the same town I lived in a year later and I realized I loved her too much to wait until 35. We've been together for two years, and we're getting married next week!"
12."Growing up, my best friend and I made this pact. We were 13 or 14 at the time. We had known each other since we were at least four. The pact was if we didn't marry anyone by 30, we would marry each other. A few years later, we moved it to 25. By the time we were 19 or 20, we started dating. We got married at 22 and just celebrated our third anniversary."
13."We intended to get married at 32 and lost touch. She wrote me a message at 36 when we were both single. We got back in touch, and now we sometimes chat. But that is as far as it goes. If we were meant to be, we would have married at 32."
14."I had a running joke with my best friend since sixth grade that once we were single, we should give it a go because chances are we would end up getting married. She's the only person who puts up with me and vice versa. We got married last month after five years of dating."
15."I made one with my wife when we were kids, like 14 or 15. We lost touch because we went to different schools, had fairly different walks of life, etc. We randomly started talking on Facebook about 10 years later and ultimately married about three years before the pact would've gone into effect. We got married at 27."
16."My best friend and I have a marriage pact. We're both girls and call it 'friends with tax benefits.'"
17."My husband and I were best friends in eighth grade and were those kids who hated everyone else at our school. We always said we were going to get married when we got older 'because everyone else sucks.' We never dated in high school because we went down different paths and remained good friends. We started talking again after high school, dated, and now happily married."
18."We're married with a newborn! When we were both 19 we made a pact to marry each other at 35 if we were both single. We started dating at 24, married at 29, and now with a newborn at 31."
19."My cousin did, and it was heartbreaking. She is six years older than I am, and apparently, the guy she made the pact with was a mama's boy cranked up to 11. The TLDR version: she made a marriage pact with someone she knew, and watched her cousins and friends all get married and/or have babies back to back in the space of a couple of years, so they enacted their pact. Proposed to on Christmas Day, married on Valentine's Day, and fast-tracked a pregnancy. In the first trimester, things go south. Mama's boy involves his mother in their marital squabbles, who convinces him to leave his pregnant wife. The wife gives the ultimatum: show up for the birth or stay gone. Guess who is back living with her parents with a new baby and a divorce in the works?"
20."I made a joke marriage pact with a gay male friend back in '99 or so before gay marriage was legal. We promised to marry before 40. This year, we both got married to different men with the same first name."
21."I made one about 10 years ago with a very close friend. We never dated, hooked up, or anything like that. On the way to his 30th, we agreed this would make sense in the long run if we didn't find our soulmates. He's a couple of years younger than me. I'm now 30 and six-and-a-half months pregnant with the love of my life (not the guy I made the deal with). About two months ago, I met him and his girlfriend in the OB-GYN waiting room. I came for a regular pregnancy check, and they came for the pregnancy confirmation. We laughed because we hadn't shared the news yet and never spoke about the pact with our partners. Now we're both waiting for our firstborns with different people and sharing pregnancy joy and stuff. It turned out better than we could ever imagine."
22."We made a pact when we were 18 to get married if we were both single at 30. We were not dating. We jumped the gun a bit I suppose, and married at 24. Seven years and three kids later, I don't regret it."
23."I had a real close friend in high school who was a social butterfly and, for whatever reason, liked to hang out with awkward nerds like me. One day, she suggested a marriage pact for us if we were both single at 35. I agreed with a laugh because I didn't expect her to remember me among all her other friends, and there was no way she'd still be single by then. After graduation, her family moved clear to the other side of the country, and I figured I'd be another Facebook friend. But we stayed in touch and started talking more. I'm talking constant Skype webcam and phone calls late into the night. Turns out I was one of the few people that bothered to put anything into a continuing relationship, and about a year after graduation she confessed that she had fallen in love with me. That was seven years ago. We're getting married in 29 days."
24.And finally, "One of my friends proposed a marriage pact sometime last year. I'll let you know in like nine years!"
Did you ever make a marriage pact? Share what happened in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
