“Hmmmm
congrats oh, hope you guys have chosen date?” I looked puzzled till she pointed
at my finger, ‘’oh, the ring, mchew, it’s a fancy ring oh” I laughed
innocently. ‘’that’s how they’ll be saying until we see wedding pictures’’.
Sigh. I had just ordered a set of rings from aliexpress so I wore a particular
one which I found really cute and because my ring finger was the one it fit, I
wore it on it. I wasn’t going to take my ring off because someone wishes to eat
my jellof rice real soon. I got stares from other colleagues who didn’t have
the courage to ask and from customers who probably thought I was too young to
be married as most of them mistook it for a wedding ring as I later realised
that evening.
I was
on my way home passing through my normal route – bread seller > filling station
> igbo/ibo guys selling chargers, earpiece etc > bikers etc. I planned to
replace my earpiece that evening as the one I had was bad so I was haggling
then the guy said ‘’madam, your husband go dey try” I smiled and said ‘’abi?’’
It got
me wondering about the respect accorded married people regardless of their age
compared to that given to unmarried people. It’s easy to attribute their
‘’unmarriedness’’ to their attitude or something they seem to do wrong
forgetting that not everyone wants to be married anyway so we all have that
choice in the end.
I was
an engaged/married woman for a day and respect for me suddenly increased. When
did marriage ever become a criterion for earning people’s respect? Me, a smallie
turned madam overnight so suddenly people can attribute my good appearances to
my husband and praise him for managing any of my shortcomings.
I’m
still unmarried though with the ring off.
Facebook - Odusola Aanuoluwapo
Instagram - @i_am_phleg
Twitter - @odusolar
BBM - 2BC07AB1
Instagram - @i_am_phleg
Twitter - @odusolar
BBM - 2BC07AB1
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