Because he's not ready yet, obviously.
He said he wants to marry you; he didn't say he wants to marry you immediately. To say you want to marry someone and to actually propose are two very different things. I've said it before: talk is cheap. It's like saying "I'm going to lose weight" vs. getting your butt up at 6 a.m. to run. One's easy, the other is hard.
I'm not suggesting that he didn't mean it. He's just not ready to pull the trigger, and there could be any number of reasons for that: he's saving up for a ring, he needs to finish school, he wants to discuss it with his family, or he wants more time to be sure it's the right thing. It could also be that he's waiting until you aren't expecting it.
Why don't you ask him? You have a right to know if he meant six months or six years. You don't say how long it has been since he mentioned marriage, but if it's been a while, there's nothing wrong with asking him if he has a timetable in mind.
If you are worried that he was just telling you what you want to hear, it is always a possibility, but I wouldn't jump right to that assumption. Take him at his word and believe he has a good reason to wait. Isn't that preferable to a guy who proposes before he's completely sure, and then you end up engaged for like five years before he makes up his mind? And he has decided that he doesn't want to marry you after all?
Well said, Cary. My husband and I dated for four years before he proposed. He wanted to finish graduate school and have a job before asking me. He didn't want us to be struggling when we were first married. That got us off to a good start, and we've been married for 25 years. Sometimes there are good reasons to wait. Perhaps he is waiting because he has your best interests at heart, and he just wants to make sure everything is right first.
Perhaps he will; just be patient.
i have been with my boyfriend for four years now. he used to want to get married right away and have kids and i was not ready at 6 months into our relationship; he says he cant wait to spend the rest of his life with me we have been living together for 3 years and have gone through alot of ups and downs and always get past it. it confuses me when he already acts like a husband and calls me his wife(at home not around people so much anymore) and has my name tattoed on his but he cant pop the question? i feel like he really just wants this (pretend marriage) it is totally confusing to me. it really makes me upset when i see friends getting engaged and i always get, "so why dont you have a ring you two are the most solid couple" could something be wrong with me? i try not to say anything but it is driving me crazy
Ok so my boyfriend is 24 and im 19 and he told me straight up he knows im the one and is going to marry me, but we've only dated some 4-5 months. I definitely feel the same way, but I'm in college and barely going into my sophomore year in a private school and I'm finding myself wanting to finish school before i get married, but he also told me that he's ready for marriage and a family. I would love to just drop everything and do it, but would this be right? I'm a first generation, oldest kid going to college and that would disappoint my dad if i were to do this. What should i do? i can't really talk to anyone about this but my best friend, but she told to do what i want, she wasnt one sided about either option.
I have been with my boyfriend for 2yrs now and about 6months ago we went out with our married friends and had a few drinks that night he asked me to marry him i said yes as he is the love of my life, in the morning i asked him about it and he said he was serious about it i told him it was ok if he wasn't but he insisted he was but thats all that has been said about it, no conversation and no ring. Do you think it could have just been drunken talk? I don't want to bring it up again and seem like im pushing it onto him what should I do?