Marriage

I was visiting my maternal grandparents at the beginning of the month. A friend of my dad's passed away several days before and he left behind a young wife and three children. The eldest being only 10. We were talking about how young his kids are and how they would miss their father. In the midst of the rather sad conversation, my grandmother suddenly quipped "That's why you have to find a wife and get married soon!!". She sounded pretty serious too. To some of you, this may not be amusing but it is to me and my immediate family. My parents never brought up the topic of marriage. My mom was there. She could not help herself but giggled especially on how the topic of conversation swayed. Lost for words, all I could say "Tell that to Apai Amin first".

Apai Amin is the affectionate nickname of my youngest uncle and my grandmother's only unmarried child. About a year ago, he quite confidently told us that he has plans to join the priesthood but now the plan is off. There are rumors going around that he is pretty steady with a girl.

I don't usually put much thought into the topic of marriage and had little urgency to do so. But after looking at the picture of the three little children standing over the father's coffin on that weekend's BorneoPost, I come to realize that there should be a cutoff age for marriage - age x or never! Men's health gets shaky from the mid 50s onwards and you would want to spend some time knowing your children before you leave this world.