Advice from a male perspective

[Jayheezy]

I've been with my boyfriend for about 3 1/2 years. We dated for 1 then we've lived together for 2 1/2 years. We have a very good relationship. He's my best friend. We've talked about marriage before & neither one of us really wanted to take that leap. We agreed that we both were just happy to live together & have a relationship we someone that was a lover but also we're best friends. He recently got in trouble with the law (DUI) & may have to do some time. It's been very stressful for both of us...the fear of separation anxiety & financial worries. Today out of the blue he said to me "You know I'm going to make you my wife." I said "No I didn't know you were thinking about that, where did that come from?" He said, "I've never loved a woman like I love you & I want you to be my wife." I was completely shocked. I told him I hadn't even been thinking about marriage.
I just don't know where that came from. I need advice from a man, why is this coming up? Could he be afraid he'll lose me if he has to do jail time? I've never pressured him about marriage or even mentioned that I wanted to get married. What could he be thinking? Is it just fear of him losing me? Any advice??

[mrtdg82]

People change there minds as they get older generally and even someone so dead against marriage may change there mind at a later date. It could be the fear of losing you should he go away (that seems harsh if its his first offence but hey im from England but as a policeman we do things differently here) or it could be he has decided that he does want marriage.

[Jayheezy]

Thank you for your response. No, it's not his first DUI offense. So I believe he will get some time, maybe 6 months. But we are so use to being together all the time. When we're not at work, we're together. We watch the same shows & movies & like to do the same things. I don't know I was just so shocked & I've been thinking about it all day. I just wanted an outside perspective. I'm going to ask him what made him say that & why he's thinking about it. Thank you.