Y'know that thing when you're young, where you and a friend go, "Hey, if we're still single by the time we're 30, let's get married?"
It seems like a LOT of people have done that, because when redditor u/eurekathatsit asked, "How is your 'if we are single by 30, we’re getting married' friend doing?" on r/AskReddit, there were a bunch of responses from people telling how their own marriage pact story is going.
For some people, it actually worked out great:
1. "I kissed her this morning when I was leaving for work; we get married in three days. No joke, we made the pact when we were 19, had been friends since 15. Reconnected in person after a few years on my 31st birthday which is three days before her 30th; we went out for a date, and we haven’t spent a night apart since. And in three days, we say the ol' I Do’s."
—u/ArcAddict
2. "This actually did happen for a friend of mine and his wife. But it was more of a conversation along the lines of, 'Hey, remember that pact we made when we were 18 about getting married at 30 if we were both single? Well, we are now 30 and single; did you want to give dating a shot?' Five years later, and they are now happily married. I have no idea why they didn't give dating a shot years before, but that's none of my business."
3. "She told me that five years ago. I said: Why not just try dating now? We did. We're married now. :D Why wait?"
—u/BaldToads
4. "We made a pact that if we were not married by 30, we’d get married. We drifted apart a bit at 29 years old, and we were both dating other people. She ended up marrying the person she was dating, and I ended up marrying the person I was dating. We both went to each other’s weddings with our respective S.O.s."
"We’d meet as couples and go to dinner sometimes and once vacationed together for a long weekend. Our kids went to the same school for a while, too. Then we lost touch for about five years…until one day, I ran into her at a local Starbucks.
I heard someone call my name, and it was her! We hugged and caught up for a while. I then asked her how her husband was doing, and she said they split up about a year ago. She asked about my wife, and I told her we split about 10 months ago. We looked at each other, and I asked her if she’d meet me for coffee the next day, and she immediately said yes!
We dated for several years and got married in December 2021."
—u/yert1099
Others...didn't work out so well:
5. "He’s my soon to be ex-husband…LOL."
—u/PeechPickel9
6. "He’s unhappily married to someone else. Spends all his time gardening now."
7. "His wife has banned him from speaking to me."
8. "I do actually have a friend who did this. They reconnected after not seeing each other for a good while. They laughed and reminisced about their funny agreement to get married at 30 if they hadn't met someone else. They did get married pretty quick and were happy...for about a year. Then they spent a couple more years miserable together. Things got very bad, and he ended up divorcing her. He's now happily married to someone who seems to be much better for him."
—u/coffee-jnky
9. "He has, like, five or six kids. He actually hit me up when we were 30 (we're 32 now) and asked about the deal. I was like, 'Dude, don’t you have, like, five kids???' I was not gonna take on that circus. 😂"
—u/yoinkss
10. "She’s been living a WILD life. We made the pact at 22, she got married by 24, divorced by 25, new relationship and got pregnant at 26, married at 28, and divorced at 30. In that time, she dropped out of college, went back to college, completed her associate's, got nailed for a few drug charges, and is currently fighting for custody of her kid with the dad."
—u/Goopyteacher
"So, when's the wedding?"
And then there were people who were somewhere in between, with some sweet stories and some sad ones:
11. "She's married to my good friend. But things are rocky. I just got divorced, so maybe we'll revisit this in our 40s? Just kidding."
—u/weezeloner
12. "I'm marrying him in November! Well, marrying him to another woman... I'm their officiant. :D"
13. "With us, it was 'if we are still single at 65, let’s just move in together — at least we like each other.' We met first year at university and had been close friends ever since. She died of breast cancer at 63. Miss her every day."
14. "Great! [He's] married with two kids, living his best life. Our cutoff was 28, and I was married by 21, he was married by 22."
15. "She’s a single mom now, so I’m getting ready to strap my stepdad boots on here shortly."
—u/PalomaBully
16. "Turns out we’re both gay, so not happening."
17. "He's married to a GORGEOUS woman with two of the CUTEST babies I've ever seen. He's a white man and was racist AF in high school (something my hormonal ass was willing to overlook), but now, he owns a gym with his best friend who is Black, and his wife is Asian. Dude turned around and achieved his dreams in the best way imaginable. Killer combo. Livin' his best life. And I'm in a long-term relationship myself, so we're both out here just killin' it."
18. "He's upstairs, I'm downstairs. We didn't get married, but we did buy a house together, platonic-like."
And finally, there's this one, which I hope has an update VERY soon:
19. "I just talked to them the other day. We’re both over 30 and still both unmarried. 😇"
—u/SeenTheReign