The OP would surely have gained the same experiences were he not ever married, as well. When you peel away all they layers of what it means to be married, Marriage is really little more than a few signatures on a piece of paper to make it 'official.'
Two people can live as a couple from adulthood to the graves, love each other with all their hearts, raise fine children, and have many adventures together without ever getting married. Nowehere is it written that in order to live such a life that Marriage is a pre-requisite. Rather, it's a social stigma bred from millenia of tradition. When you love someone so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you get married, because that's just what you do. In the past, Marriage was just as much a tool as it was an institution. Marriages were cleverly used political and diplomatic tactics to improve relations between wary neighbours, to increase social status, and even for power.
In my current relationship, I stand to lose far more than I stand to gain if I were to get Married and subsequently part ways.
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