Parents confound me all the time
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Dad has been telling me to remain single.
"In olden times, women had no identities or rights of their own. They were considered chattels. But now women can hold jobs, can own property, can travel, can do almost anything a man can do. You don't need a husband!" concluded Dad. "No need to get married lah!"
Erm, okay...
"Marriage can be very difficult," he continued. "And if you say you want to marry for companionship, well, you can be lonely in a marriage too, you know. In fact, you can be lonely in a crowd. There are never any guarantees."
I know that, which is why I believe it's so important to choose your partner carefully. And I've never expected marriage to be easy, either. Two very different people, learning to live together day in & day out, easy? You've gotta be joking! :D
"And what do you want children for? Previously, people used to say it's good to have children so that you'll have someone to take care of you when you're old. But times are changing. People are travelling and emmigrating more & more these days. Look at my friends. Their children are spread out all over the globe -- in the US, UK, Australia, Canada. Nobody's left at home except the parents, and they aren't going to move to any of those places. You can't really rely on your children to take care of you any more. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Life is simply different now."
It is a bit difficult explaining to your father that your arms feel empty whenever you glimpse a toddler or a baby, so I didn't try.
I'm quite tickled that, while most of my friends are complaining of parental pressure to tie the knot, Dad is going in the other direction on the subject. Hilarious, isn't it? Mom's also completely sanguine about the whole thing, saying, "Don't worry! If God wants you to be married, you'll be married, and if He doesn't want you to be married, you won't be married!"
I have, err, very unusual parents. *grin* I'm thankful that they aren't pressuring me on this, coz I'm happy to take my time in making any decision in this area. People keep on telling me that matters of the heart can't be forced, which is true. Meanwhile, I'm single by choice. I wanna be like the lady called Ellen in this story. To be content even when you don't have what you want is a difficult thing, but a wonderful one.
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