Yesterday, I said "I still have something I wanted to blog about but I don't feel like writing anything serious at the moment. Maybe later.." Well, Talia got to it first. Boy I'm glad she did. I couldn't have written it more precisely than she did. What can I do, she was LaSalle-Bacolod's school paper, The Spectrum, editor-in-chief for a couple of years. We were both thinking as we were talking last Sunday that this would be a good topic to blog about. So here's what she said..
last sunday, i had a weekly date with my friend Claudine. as we were on our way out of the mall, she pointed out two women walking towards us. the women were...well, plain. they were in their late 30's, wore stuffy, worn-out clothes, and carried several grocery bags. and Claudine said, "see those women? those plain, haggard-looking women, are already married."
and, i thought, "oh hell."
aside from shopping for shoes and wallets, getting our nails painted, and eating till our flys pop off, claudine and i sometimes have these "epiphanic conversations" (or is it "epiphanous?") during our dates. last sunday's was one of those. we were both wondering why these women, the kind who sell fish and vegetables at the wet market, manage to find themselves married at their early 20's, with at least 2 kids by their 30's, while we who (modesty aside) look and smell better, are still single at our age. could it be that we are just too choosy or have too high standards? don't get me wrong, i sometimes envy these women. because despite the monotony of their daily life, they seem to be genuinely happy.
i wonder what it would be like to have simple goals as a woman. to learn to cook, wash and iron the laundry, and clean the house at a young age. to finish at least high school or a vocational college course. to find a man with any job and wed at 20. to have at least three kids by the time you hit 30. and grow old watching the cycle of life coming to a full circle.
i come from a totally different breed of women. my mother is a housewife but she ran her own business. my paternal grandmother and my aunts were all schoolteachers who balanced their careers and raising their families. one sister is a nurse who married in her late 20's and has one child. my other sister is a career woman who is still happily single and already in her 40's.
i'm turning 30 this year. and i'm still single and unattached; by choice and circumstance, i must say. i just don't feel compelled to get married and have children just because i've reached a certain age. although having a child would be fulfilling, i just don't feel that i have to be married in order for my life to be complete. i enjoy solitude; although there are times, admittedly, that one longs for someone to share the cold, lonely nights with. but since i've been working at a call center for the past three years, i really haven't had any problems looking for someone to spend my nights with. now, lest you and your dirty minds jump to conclusions, i spend my nights working with 200 crazy call center agents.
i honestly don't think claudine and i and millions of other independent and single women in the world are missing out on life's sweetness just because we aren't wives or mothers yet. not to say that the wives and mothers have it bad though. it's just that we chose different paths. bottomline is, we're women who made our choices. and that definitely doesn't make us the weaker sex.
Touché.
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last sunday, i had a weekly date with my friend Claudine. as we were on our way out of the mall, she pointed out two women walking towards us. the women were...well, plain. they were in their late 30's, wore stuffy, worn-out clothes, and carried several grocery bags. and Claudine said, "see those women? those plain, haggard-looking women, are already married."
and, i thought, "oh hell."
aside from shopping for shoes and wallets, getting our nails painted, and eating till our flys pop off, claudine and i sometimes have these "epiphanic conversations" (or is it "epiphanous?") during our dates. last sunday's was one of those. we were both wondering why these women, the kind who sell fish and vegetables at the wet market, manage to find themselves married at their early 20's, with at least 2 kids by their 30's, while we who (modesty aside) look and smell better, are still single at our age. could it be that we are just too choosy or have too high standards? don't get me wrong, i sometimes envy these women. because despite the monotony of their daily life, they seem to be genuinely happy.
i wonder what it would be like to have simple goals as a woman. to learn to cook, wash and iron the laundry, and clean the house at a young age. to finish at least high school or a vocational college course. to find a man with any job and wed at 20. to have at least three kids by the time you hit 30. and grow old watching the cycle of life coming to a full circle.
i come from a totally different breed of women. my mother is a housewife but she ran her own business. my paternal grandmother and my aunts were all schoolteachers who balanced their careers and raising their families. one sister is a nurse who married in her late 20's and has one child. my other sister is a career woman who is still happily single and already in her 40's.
i'm turning 30 this year. and i'm still single and unattached; by choice and circumstance, i must say. i just don't feel compelled to get married and have children just because i've reached a certain age. although having a child would be fulfilling, i just don't feel that i have to be married in order for my life to be complete. i enjoy solitude; although there are times, admittedly, that one longs for someone to share the cold, lonely nights with. but since i've been working at a call center for the past three years, i really haven't had any problems looking for someone to spend my nights with. now, lest you and your dirty minds jump to conclusions, i spend my nights working with 200 crazy call center agents.
i honestly don't think claudine and i and millions of other independent and single women in the world are missing out on life's sweetness just because we aren't wives or mothers yet. not to say that the wives and mothers have it bad though. it's just that we chose different paths. bottomline is, we're women who made our choices. and that definitely doesn't make us the weaker sex.Touché.
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