"When are you getting married ?"
The golden question that every single parent in this world would ask their children within this age range, sparkled onto me this morning, from my mom. And I didn't answer her, as I've already knew that the answer will be a very disappointing one for her.
I'm pretty sure that this hit-topping question have been going around every single person with the "Single" status hanging above their head, in the same age range as me (or even an older age range, no offence taken). And believe me, most answers to this question will be not so pleasant for the parent to listen and accept. Not to mention if you're directing this question to another fellow friend.
In fact, sad to say, for the current being, marriage is no longer the "wonderful" fairy tale that everyone anticipated it to be. It's no longer "I love you, let's live happily ever after" or nonsense like "Nothing else matters as long as I love you".
To cut a long story short, the main reason my mom thought of the question was fairly easy; most of my cousins in the same age range as me have already married, and currently expecting their first baby. In other words, my aunty-uncles' will be "upgraded" to the status of grandmothers-grandfathers very soon, where as both my parents are still "stuck" with their current status as ermm.....mothers-fathers. As such, I don't really blame them when this impatient, longing feeling of "upgrading" to a much needed status, appears when you see your other counterparts beginning to have this sense of accomplishment. Yet, they still don't get it. They still don't get this current trend of marriage.
Long gone are the days where you can get married in your early teenage days of 18 years or so, and having your first-out-of-ten kid at the age of 22. In this current age, doing the similar act will end up having the whole bl**dy community assuming that you just caused that poor young girl pregnant and you're kind of forced to get married in order to cover up that mess you've caused. Not to mention other follow-up matters such as financial wise, and baby-sitting wise to add up your woes.
What I'm trying to stress here is that getting married at this era isn't as simple as it seems. Put the "love" part aside, we have other reality issues knocking on the front door, such as financial, commitment and responsibility. Ok, maybe the commitment part isn't that significant yet until the first baby pops out, but then.....it's the financial part which will make the first kill. Ever wondered how much does a wedding ceremony, together with the preparations along with it such as dinners, photoshoot & etc, cost you? And that is just the first part, the joy has just started. Once done, you will have to plan on getting a new house, a new car (to cater for the upcoming family size), a new shared bank account, new insurance policy, and the list goes on. And everything comes along with a pretty price tag, in which if you're not that kind of thrifty saver, you're definitely end up in deep sh*t.
I'm not trying to brainwash or discourage anyone from getting married here, but my emphasis is that getting married is not just a simple thing of two person who love each deeply, to share their love for the rest of their lives. There are just other matters which will raise the obstacles alongside that fancy marriage, it's just the amount of effort taken by both parties to overcome the obstacles and make the best out of their new life.
To my dear friends who still hold the valuable "Single" status :
I see you.
To my dear friends who are happily married :
I salute you.
To my dear friends who are expecting their first child :
I congratulate you.
And most importantly,
To all parents in this world who are still asking that same, d*mn question :
BE PATIENT !
End of story.
