[Bring_Back_Shantz]

The more and more I think about this the more intrigued I become.

Rube,
You don't plan on marrying this girl, but I presume by the way you've been posting that you do see yourself with her for the long haul. Am I correct in this assumption?

If I am, what are the plans in the future? Do you plan to have joint bank accounts? Buy a place together? Maybe have kids? For all intents and purposes be married?

If thats the case (it may be already for all I know), then I'd go back to my original question of why a piece of paper would be a deal breaker. Surely a breakup at that point isn't any more complicated by it.

If you don't plan to do any of those things, and for all intents and purposes to keep everything seperate for the rest of your lives, then I'd say if it was my daughter, I probably wouldn't be to warm to the idea either. I'd see that as more of a room mate she's sleeping with than a partner.

The fact of the matter is, that most dads will warm up to a guy when he's show a commitment to his daughter. Whether that's a proposal or something different depends on the circumstances and the dad. Maybe he hasn't preceived this commitment from you because he regards marriage as the only option, but maybe it's because it isn't concretely there. I don't know your situation so I can't comment on the likelyhood of either, but it may be something to think about.