Send us a text A loaf of sourdough, a misplaced Princess Bride quote, and a very real question: if marriage isn’t about survival anymore, what makes it worth choosing? We pull on that thread and follow it through a century of norms and numbers, from the 1920s peak to the long decline since the 1970s—and the cultural shifts that explain it. Along the way, we weigh what changes when you marry in your 20s versus your 40s, how women’s financial independence reframed commitment, and why cohabitati...