Almost 15 years ago, as part of a year of AmeriCorps service after graduating from college, I went on a program retreat where one of the sessions was about navigating relationships. Our retreat leader (who was then in her late 20s) shared with the rest of us (who were mostly 22 or 23) that her relationships with her two closest female friends had been strained since she had gotten married. Her friends were both single and struggling to relate to her, she thought, because they were unhappily dating and trying to make rent on a single income; they assumed her life was so much easier after tying the knot.
But actually, she said, life gets harder after marriage. Now there are two sets of parents and siblings, two careers and two sets of preferences to consider for everything. Soon, there would be children, with all their demands.