parents on their wedding day
can’t believe how young they look, especially pops
in the living room my mom has classical music on, my brother is blaring spanish conversations in his room, i’m playing the arctic monkeys in my room
and to drown each others’ out, we keep raising our own volumes
my house sounds like a really bad, obnoxious concert
and my dad is sleeping through all this, as expected
when I’m tired or frustrated or upset, I clean everything in sight and rearrange all my books in a systematic manner and vacuum in all the crevices I can find. even though vicariously sorting and emptying out your inner frustrations through cleaning and organizing your room may not sound like the most sensible coping mechanism, it is very cathartic i tell you
Happy birthday, daddy-o. It makes me sad to see new white hairs sprouting on your head. You’re the greatest, and I love being your daughter. See you in a few hours at the airport!!
specifically in the northern states, it’s estimated that around 43% of girls are forced to wed by age 15-16, usually to much older men.
Nearly half of the female population of Nigeria (as well as numerous other countries, which I will mention later) are sold off as child brides and thus are robbed of the joys of a loving, genuine marriage.
We are lucky to be able to marry whoever we love. Does that sound strange to you? I am lucky to be able to marry out of love, not out of force. Perhaps we are too accustomed to being told that we should be grateful for the food in our stomachs, roofs over our heads, and higher level education that we have relatively easy access to. And no one really says anything like “Be grateful for your freedom to marry who you love and choose.” But wow, think about how big of a blessing that is.
reading his books makes you wonder how such brilliant words can come out of a single human being
