I'm officially engaged to Latthana – she's wearing this diamond. More details in tonight's GnomeREPORT.

UPDATE: We've received countless wishes through e-mail today. One of the niftier messages came from one of Lockergnome's regular contributors, Sherman:

Congratulations. With the changing times, the concept of marriage has not changed, but its meaning has become clearer. What used to be called a shackup can be a rewarding and loving relationship, but marriage is something different. Marriage goes beyond any specific religion or belief. Marriage is an extremely basic change in attitude. When the tired words “for better or worse, in sickness or health.” are recited, we tend to shine them on, but think back to the days when they were bright and new. They meant something. They really meant for better or worse. They meant that I don't even have to think about alternatives because they are not going to happen. I suppose you could consider marriage to be an early labor-saving device. It eliminates the requirement for all sort of activities, most of which are of passing interest.

Marriage is not for everyone. Our ancestors saw the good lives that truly married people shared and envied them. So they all tried to be married and most ended up in shackles of some type. Libraries are full of books written about the sad consequences of unhappy pairing. Still they tried, and soon getting married was the only permitted way to have a relationship. That attempt at social engineering was one of the biggest failures of the human race. It tool a long time, but the people finally rebelled and now we see that marriage is returning to something that truly means “for better or worse.'til death do us part”.

The transition to marriage is not easy. In his autobiography, Albert Einstein wrote that the one thing he regretted was that he had not been smart enough to figure out how to live with one woman. Now that is some heavy odds to overcome!. Like I said, marriage is not for most people. You can live together and have kids and be respected in you community and even have a piece of paper that says you are married and you will still not be married. When you truly understand “for better or worse” and agree to it, then you are married.