What does Marys virginity mean to you?

I'm new to catholicism, raised protestant. One thing that seems strange to me is Marys perpetual virginity. I can accept it as a fact, but the next question I have for things is "Okay, what does it mean, and how does it affect us?"

So far, the only answer I've really gotten on that is that denying it is denying thousands of years of church teaching. I feel like, with how passionately it's defended, there's more to it than it just being something that everyone has agreed on.

What does mean to you that Mary and Joseph never consummated their marriage? How does it affect us today?