
Forgot where I found this:
The oldest standard wedding vows can be traced back to the Book of Common Prayer, by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury: “I, _____, take thee, _____, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance.” The vows included in that book are derived from the Sarum rite of medieval England, which was originally translated in the earliest versions of the Book of Common Prayer as “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us depart.” The earlier 1549 version of the Book of Common Prayer retained the “till death us depart” (“depart” here meaning “separate:), changing over as of the 1662 version to read “till death us do part.” Eventually, the “us” and “do” were swapped, giving us the modern version: “till death do us part.” Remarkably, they’ve remained much the same ever since.
We have heard of the seven year itch.
Not the movie but the concept.
The seven-year itch can be analyzed quantitatively. Divorce rates show a trend in couples that, on average, divorce around seven years. Statistics show that there is a low risk of separation during the first months of marriage. After the “honeymoon” months, divorce rates start to increase. Most married couples experience a gradual decline in the quality of their marriage; in recent years around the fourth year of marriage. Around the seventh year, tensions rise to a point that couples either divorce or adapt to their partner.

Some quickly checked “facts”:
Today, Life expectancy for females is 81.2 years; for males, it’s 76.4 years. 17th-century English life expectancy was only about 35 years. According to the Cambridge Group statistics done on wedding registrars starting in 1538, first marriages for men averaged around 28 years, and for women averaged around 26 in the 16th century. The average age of first marriage for women in 2017 was 27.4 years. For men, it’s slightly older at 29.5 years.

So let’s do the math. In the 17th century, a couple could expect to be married for about 7-10 years till death did them part. Today, we are looking at 50! That’s right 50 years till death do us part. Now THAT is a long commitment. That’s 7 seven years itch!
Think for a moment of the physical and mental changes that go on over 50 tears. I made it through 6 seven years itch.
The problem then is simply one of math. When the vow was established, people only lived through 1 seven year itch. Now, unfortunately, love often dies before the partners.
Maybe we should change the vow until love dies we part. The challenge is to keep love alive by giving each other what is needed so there is no reason to seek it elsewhere.
