In sickness...

It started when I watched Chris Medina audition for "American Idol."

My boyfriend and I listened to the 20-something singer tell a camera crew how he became his fiancee's caregiver after she was in a car accident that left her with a severe skull fracture, a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures to her face.

I avoided asking the question dominating my mind: "Would you do the same thing for me?"

"In sickness and in health" is sometimes a scary prospect, enough to make one writer decide she's not cut out for marriage:

If this vow is intended to be taken both seriously and literally — and I believe it is — then it absolutely terrifies me. Could I spend all my free hours taking care of somebody and tending to his medical and emotional needs? Could I willingly put my own career on the wayside and make him the utmost priority of my life and existence so long as he needed me?

What if he asked me to quit my day job and spend all my hours with him at the hospital, like my father did with my mother? Could I agree to do all that? The answer is a resounding no!

My career is one of my top life priorities. I've spent more time dreaming about a book deal than my wedding gown. I've made many social sacrifices in the name of ensuring A1 bylines.

That said, I'd like to think that amid a significant other's sickness, I'd choose my relationship over my personal aspirations.

Yes, maybe that sentiment sets women back however many years. Whatever. Ultimately, I'd rather be judged by the strength of my human bonds than the length of my resume.

Thoughts?