"I am a young woman in love. My male companion of five years means everthing to me. We share common dreams and look forward to having a life long future together. We are totally committed to each other; mind, body and soul. I am of Jewish faith and he is Catholic. We are not really religious but our families are. We celebrate both religions. We have been encouraged by family to go our separate ways as we have been told that when you marry, you marry family as well. I am being tortured at this point in my life in making a decision that will affect me for the rest of my life. Although we are so much in love, he has always shyed away from talking about real commitment and marriage. Maybe his concerns of our religious backgrounds are keeping him from making the next step. I long for a commitment from this man. I pray for a union before God. I believe that a commitment from him would seal our bond. I would feel secure knowing that we are husband and wife. Our families would know that we are truly committed and hopefully leave us to live our lives as we see fit."