When you have two older sisters in the house, hovering around the age group of 22- conversation rarely shifts from the all time dreaded word, 'marriage'. I got to thinking. What is it about this word that makes a woman's knees weak and a man's heart terribly nervous?
As i moved from thinking about marriage to asking people who were actually living a married life or about to take on the challenge, I began feeling a clash. A clash not between nagging mother-inlaws or of the choice of a wedding cake, but a much spoken about clash- between man and woman.
The further I delved into the topic, I realized that men were more nonchalant about marriage- no over excited phone calls (rather a mundane announcement to the locker room), no quandary over the wedding suit (even the mother is now 'skilled' enough to pick it out) and most definitely no form of generosity when expanding the guest list. Men were giving up their single life and they weren't happy about it!
Women on the other hand are all over it- from hyperventilating about 24594939 different shades of red or white for the wedding dress to the intricacies of which chair will be where during the wedding- the whole affair seems to be a nuance of a big time budget Kjo movie, wedding scene. They wanted to celebrate the rock on their finger making a not so modest display of their settled, committed (read- envy me now) life.
After days of flipping through what seemed like a 1000 couples wedding albums, gauging their stories and still seeing the blush of a girl on full grown women did I realize that it is the clash that kept a 'marriage' alive. From the chase and romantic dates to bickering about the little things- a marriage is beautiful because at the end of the day you've found your soulmate- someone you chose to share your closet, toilet space, kitchen and most importantly your life with.
It is the clash that makes it interesting, the difference in opinion that keeps it alive, the change in lifestyle that makes it a voluntary compromise and the quenching of a quest of finding the perfect one for over 2 decades that makes it unexplainably special.
A dedication to my two beautiful sisters as they set out to find their soulmates :)
As i moved from thinking about marriage to asking people who were actually living a married life or about to take on the challenge, I began feeling a clash. A clash not between nagging mother-inlaws or of the choice of a wedding cake, but a much spoken about clash- between man and woman.
The further I delved into the topic, I realized that men were more nonchalant about marriage- no over excited phone calls (rather a mundane announcement to the locker room), no quandary over the wedding suit (even the mother is now 'skilled' enough to pick it out) and most definitely no form of generosity when expanding the guest list. Men were giving up their single life and they weren't happy about it!
Women on the other hand are all over it- from hyperventilating about 24594939 different shades of red or white for the wedding dress to the intricacies of which chair will be where during the wedding- the whole affair seems to be a nuance of a big time budget Kjo movie, wedding scene. They wanted to celebrate the rock on their finger making a not so modest display of their settled, committed (read- envy me now) life.
After days of flipping through what seemed like a 1000 couples wedding albums, gauging their stories and still seeing the blush of a girl on full grown women did I realize that it is the clash that kept a 'marriage' alive. From the chase and romantic dates to bickering about the little things- a marriage is beautiful because at the end of the day you've found your soulmate- someone you chose to share your closet, toilet space, kitchen and most importantly your life with.
It is the clash that makes it interesting, the difference in opinion that keeps it alive, the change in lifestyle that makes it a voluntary compromise and the quenching of a quest of finding the perfect one for over 2 decades that makes it unexplainably special.
A dedication to my two beautiful sisters as they set out to find their soulmates :)
love it so much :)
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