The secret is simple — get married, and live, in New Jersey
BY SUN STAFF
Over the last few weeks, you may have read on this page our request to have you send in the story of the love of your life. March 20 is National Proposal Day, and we are celebrating the under-the-radar “holiday” by telling the stories of marriage engagements of the members of this community.
Why do we do this? As one of our associate editors would say, “we love love.” And so, too, apparently, do plenty of other New Jerseyans. A recently- released Census report shows that New Jersey has the lowest percentage of people who have married two or more times. So, when we say “I do,” we tend to mean it. Or, at the very least, we don’t intend to say it again if things don’t go right the first time.
We’d rather focus on that first point, though. New Jersey has long held one of the lowest, if not the lowest, divorce rates in the nation, and experts are never surprised to read this. Why? Because New Jersey residents typically fall into categories that put them at a lower likelihood to get a divorce:
We have a high level of education, so we often delay marriage to a later age, making us more emotionally and financially stable. Money troubles are a leading cause of divorce, and since a good portion of our newlyweds are in a better financial position than their counterparts in the South and West — where divorce rates are higher — we tend to avoid the D-word.
Which circles us back to what we’re really talking about here — wonderful, head-over-heels love.
We have already received plenty of stories from the community about their memorable love stories and how it came about, and we thank you for them. We hope to receive more specifically related to your engagement, and your stories will be told in these pages in the coming weeks. If you want to share your stories with the town, please send them in.
