Actress Susan Sarandon is 68, the survivor of a 12 year marriage followed by a 23 year relationship with actor Tim Robbins and is now serious with a 37-year-old screenwriter.
She knows about relationships so I had more than a knee jerk reaction when I read that she believes marriages should be renewed every five years.
At that point a “no-guilt release clause” should allow the couple to walk away.
If they stay together, the clause is triggered again in another five years.
“If you knew the deadline was coming, you’d be on good behaviour, you’d work harder and maybe you wouldn’t take your partner for granted,” said the Oscar winning actress and star of Thelma and Louise.
The point she makes is that a couple who fall in love and marry at a young age, are not going to be the same people years later as they progress through life. They may bond closer or they may drift apart.
A renewal contract may not sit easily with traditional wedding vows but they have a certain common sense. Perhaps the same concentration of commitment might be affected by having a renewal of vows every five years?
Many marriages might need it if a survey from TotallyMoney.com is to be believed. They asked if people thought they would be better off being single or in a relationship.
Just under half of those in a relationship (45.4%) thought they would be financially better off if they were single, while 68% of singles thought being part of a couple would cost them more, despite shared bills, rent and mortgage.
The most striking figure is that for men of a certain age: 68.8% of those between 35 –44 said they would be better off single, which makes you wonder if they were only considering the financial aspects of the question. Renewal vows might help them. Then again, if the five-year clause was in effect, they could have been long gone. After all, the grass is always greener on the other side. Until you get there.
