On Relationships

I think I am blessed and cursed at the same time when I think about how my model for a romantic and monogamous relationship was solely shaped by my parents growing up. They have a fairy tale type relationship. They met at age 15 dated, went to the same college, tried to date other people briefly and then realized at 20 “who are we fooling let’s get married!” And they lived happily ever after and still cuddle on the couch when watching TV. I feel blessed to have been brought up in such a loving environment free of abuse, arguing, or divorce. Honestly, I thought that this is what would happen to me up until age 19 when I broke up with my high school boyfriend.
I had thought I was going to marry this person when I was 19.
Since then I wish I could say that I have radically transformed my vision of relationships, but always in the back of my mind is the thought “could I spend the rest of my life with this person?”
Men are more laid back about relationships, and think about them in the present; rarely venturing into those future thoughts. I always wonder if this sort of difference between women and men is a natural instinct or is from social conditioning based on gender roles.
Are women inherently born thinking about starting families and nurturing children? Or is it because we were given doll babies, easy-bake-ovens and Barbies to play with? Maybe a combination. I think women are pressured to think about monogamous life partners when choosing men to date. Whereas men aren’t raised playing with toys that make them to think about family life. Men I am sure think about possible “life-partners” when they date. Humans for the most part want to have someone to spend their lives with.
I have female friends though who are appalled by thought of marriage and do not like the idea of serious relationships. I know guys who can’t live without a girl friend and think about getting married. It goes both ways. So maybe it is how we were raised. Our views of relationships are shaped by our parents from a very early age. If you grow up with a single mom or divorced parents or two daddies, you are probably going use their relationships as a yard stick to measure yours. Either avoiding their style or imitating it. We are brought up in a very narrow world view for the most part and therefore have very few relationships to learn from, before you start learning for yourself.