I’m 25, he’s about to be 26. We’ve been together for a little over 2 years and have lived together for a little more than 6 months.

I have a deadline of sorts, in my mind, that I’ve set. I was hesitant to move in together before being engaged so I told myself that if a year goes by and my bf hasn’t committed to building a live *together* (AKA putting a ring on it) then I’m out. I told him flat out early on that being in a married partnership was important to me. He agreed and said that it was for him, too. So we’re on the same page in that sense. But he never wants to talk about it. He doesn’t shut the conversation down abruptly, but he does try to scoot it under the rug or switch the subject. 

The reason I have a deadline is because I don’t want to get stuck in a dead-end relationship. The kind where two people stay together out of convenience but don’t actually have a future together. I just don’t want to invest everything into a relationship, get totally screwed in the end, and have to rebuild my entire life from the ground up. 

My desire to get married is mostly practical. I don’t care much about the actual ring or the actual wedding, although it would be fun or whatever. He doesn’t even need to do a big proposal or anything. I’m more interested in the legal benefits and protections that are provided in a marriage that you just don’t get while being in a domestic partnership. It’s also a career thing, too. The field in which I work is still very traditional and being single vs. married still alters people’s perception of you. Old fashioned and stupid, I know, but oh well. 

I think that 3 years, at our age and having lived together for a whole year, is a good amount of time to figure out whether or not we should get married. I feel like, if it’s not hell yea by then, it’s a no. 

Some people have agreed with me and others have said that it’s not fair for me to put that kind of pressure on my bf. 

So... AITA?