I think you only understand the difference once you get married but here is one thing I don’t understand (mostly because I haven’t done it) is why would you live together without getting married. Logical response would be because you love each other. To me, if you really love each other, you really need to show…

I still put my wife to sleep pretty much every night after 12 yrs. She likes sleeping on my chest and I don’t mind. She is “gone in 60 seconds” once I start running my hand through her hair. I always tell her I don’t have 2 kids, I have 3 :) !