This is the face of a woman who is almost 30 years. As a single woman still living with conservative African parents, it means that every weekend or free time I get with my parents, I have to listen to their lectures on how hard is to get hitched when a woman gets to her thirties. It always ends with them pleading with me to find a supportive husband.
Like many other women around the world, I grew up with a vision to be rich, marry and have children. I guess like other children, I took it for granted that getting married and having children would be a piece of cake; the getting rich aspect looked less attainable.
Somehow, in my first years of college, I came to a conclusion that I would count myself lucky if I got married. To prevent future heartache, I stopped thinking about marriage altogether. In my last years of college, my leadership lecturer asked us to submit an essay about our future plans. When I got my essay back, among other comments , there was one asking me about marriage. That is when I realized that I had got to a point where I had totally ruled out marriage. Marriage at any point meant that I would have to change my life plan. My parents would have been so horrified to know this!!!
Some weeks ago, it occurred to me that I pray for a lot of things; long life, peace, money, job success, academic success, health but I have never prayed for a spouse. It was pretty surprising to me even. I decided to change. I am going back to being that little girl who hoped to conquer the world and did not see any limitations. When I remember to, I pray to the Almighty to guide me towards and bless me with a good spouse. I hope these baby steps will lead to a good end. We’ll see how the future goes.:-)
nienaspeaks 