<human>: I have been with my boyfriend for over 5 years now, living together for almost the entire 5 years. We are amazing together, always laughing and having fun, rarely argue, same interests, healthy sex life (1-3 times a week). I trust him with my life and I think he feels the same. We have been through a lot in that time, including death in both families and moving across the country together. I have felt for a few years now that I am ready to get engaged/married and he is more than aware of this. I have brought up the topic of marriage about 5 times within the last couple of years and it seems the only answer that I get is he is simply "not ready". He doesn't seem to be able to elaborate on what that means or when he thinks he will be ready. Recently he has said maybe another year or two, but he just knows that he is not ready now. I know that he is not against marriage in general, that is something that he definitely wants for himself. Which leads me to believe that he simply doesn't want to marry me..

This is starting to really weigh on my confidence and happiness in the relationship. On one hand, I don't understand why he would suddenly be ready for marriage in a "year or two". We have already been through so much together, I don't think he is going to learn anything new about me that will suddenly make him ready in that time. On the other hand, I am so happy in this relationship (other than this issue), is this really worth throwing away for a piece of paper? Is there any possibility that he will suddenly be ready after 6 years together instead of the 5 we are at now? 

I am looking for any reason to stay at this point. It feels hopeless and I think that I need to leave for my own sanity... but it's so hard to throw this away. I love him so much and all of our other goals in life line up so well. Has anyone been through this where it worked out? Has anyone waited 6+ years for their partner to be ready for marriage and had them actually decide they were ready? 

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: Been with boyfriend 5 years, he says he is still "not ready" for marriage, maybe another year or two. Any point in staying?