This was not my experience at all with meeting my mate. Neither of us were looking for something serious or long-term. In fact, he was only in my city for a few months on an internship, but we hit it off and knew within a few months that we wanted to get married - something that didn't happen for 3 more years until he was done with grad school and financially ready to do so. We are each other's soulmates and neither of us has a "one that got away."

Maybe some men approach marriage in this way, but I find it hard to believe based on my own experience and those of many other couples I know, that it is remotely universal.