Love and fear in family pressures to wed

Nowadays when I chat with single and 30-something colleagues about career and life, somehow I'll always add before we finish: "Get married."

"You talk just like my dad and mom," they often say, amused.

And like my parents, too, with just slightly less fervor. Ironically, when I was young and unattached, I resented their pleas for me to settle down as a drag on my pursuit of career and personal independence.