What to expect? Or when, perhaps?

So to start off, I've finally found the one
But I have my questions, so if there's anyone out there that's married, engaged etc please help! It's not urgent by any means, and I know that something more serious will likely be a few years from now, but I do wonder what some recent comments I've been told mean for the future.
Here's the rundown, we've known of each other for a while but only personally for a few months if that makes sense. Anyway, I moved back to my home town to be with him, we've been staying together for a couple months etc, we've discussed the marriage topic (very casually) but lately he's mentioned the good ole "if we do get married" line, and just the other day I did something really random and he says "that's the kind of stuff that'll get you a ring someday"
I have met his family for the most part and he's met mine casually as well. He's not the "typical" male either so there won't be many if any obvious signs.. gotta go, may add later :P

In my experience, it is not unusual for marriage talk to be pretty common in the early stages of a relationship. It's easy to get swept up in new relationships and feel unable to live without each other. It doesn't necessarily mean you will actually end up getting married, but it doesn't mean you won't.

i think High Treason states it pretty well. And being new to a relationship, it is easy to latch on to those statements and give them more power than they are really meant to have. spend your time building a strong relationship and worry less about the when. your time will come eventually.

He actually said that? I would leave him without furhter ado.

I was thinking that same thing, Hamster. But maybe it was a joke. We don't know the full context.

I'm not complaining about that comment by any means, I was really wondering if that's something that a guy would say in a serious relationship and how true it is. Or if that's normal. I'm 30 he's almost 30, we're fairly mature adults not teenagers. The thought of marriage does not scare me off, nor does the topic. I couldn't really type everything I was going to say that have more details cause be came home from work just before I was done. We do live together, and have both been in crappy relationships so we know the basics when it comes down to what we expect from the other and things that we won't tolerate, equally on the same page. My question was more along the lines of affirmative confirmation to how he really feels about where were headed in the future.

In my experience, only time will tell... Make sure you have the same expectations of life together. Those comments arethe cute things men say in the beginning and we love to hear so we think we know where their head is but actions speak louder than words. Give it time and try not to overthink it. Enjoy being in love.

communicate. commuNICATE. COMMUNICATE!!! If you think this guy is "The One" that's awesome! Learn how to communicate with him! There's no way for you to know what he's thinking or why he does what he does (or him- you) unless you talk to each other about those things.
I've recently come to the end of a twenty year relationship and pretty much every problem we ever had was due to poor communication. She was constantly doing things expecting a certain reaction from me while I was always taking her actions the wrong way. Had we communicated properly about the issues we were having Both of us have no doubt that we wouldn't have gone through all of the pain and misunderstanding that we did.

I have some friends who have good communication skills and their relationships are so healthy and vibrant- even through the rough times. This is a skill that has to be learned and worked at, but my friends have told me that communication has been key to them feeling good about themselves and each other within their relationships.

One way to get started is to let your partner know that he's important to you and that you want to have really good communication so that your relationship can be the best it can be. No matter how hard it is to talk about some things, it WILL be worth it.

Make it a regular thing or just whenever something comes up, pick a time to talk and let him know what you want to talk about so that when you sit down to talk, you both know why you're there. And understand that you're there because you love each other. If you come at this from a place of love and understanding, even the hardest of subjects can be discussed and understood. I've been learning A LOT about this since my relationship ended with several people that I haven't communicated well with over the past years and it's true and liberating!! Neither of you will have to try to guess about the other's intensions and you'll be free to just love each other and even if, in the end, it doesn't work out between you, you'll both know why and be able to celebrate the time you did spend together.
It's been said that actions speak louder than words... But if you don't understand those actions it doesn't matter how loud they are!!!

DMD

Every relationship is going to be different. My husband never said any of those things, and he is very, very much not a stereotypical male. We never really talked about marriage. A little before he popped the question, and I think once after someone else's wedding (after years of us dating), I asked if that would be us one day. We never even really talked about moving in together -- it just happened. ("You're moving half way across the country? I'm miserable where I am and am done with long distance? I'm coming with you" without actually needing to say it... And yet... I consider our communication skills pretty good).

But what other posters have said is definitely true. Communication is key, but follow through on what is being said is also important. I also agree that what he's saying could be him being flirty, or it could be a serious indication of his intentions. Only time and good communication is going to tell. I can understand that being a little bit older might be putting pressure on you, especially if you're thinking about having kids. But still try to let things unfold naturally and not rush or push anything before it's ready to happen.

We talked about everything and knew we both wanted to get married some day from early on. Communication really is key!

I just cannot tell you how much I agree with you, RomanSunburn!!!

The idea that communication is of utmost importance has been peeving me to no end because when people are seriously into one another, they do not need so many words to understand one another!!!

Put another way, yes, the idea that communication is of utmost importance is ENTIRELY CORRECT, but only if communication is understood to encompass ALL communication, including non-verbal communication, context (say, above, what High Treason said about the context that changes how a stand-alone remark is perceived), body language etc. Then yes. But not as in "let us hold both short daily sync-ups and hour-long weekly meetings on the status of our relationship" - then you might as well stay within the corporate world 24/7...