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Ever After

My earliest childhood memory was of reading my favourite story Cinderella. I loved that she overcame all odds to attend the ball, met the Prince, eventually got married and lived happily ever after. I vividly remember my awe as a young girl fantasising about the day when I would meet my Prince Charming. He would sweep me off my feet, propose and we would have this big fanciful wedding party. I never doubted the instituition of marriage and had always wanted to marry and live my ever after ending.

Being 25 and a quarter year old today, I realised that I was nowhere getting married while some of my girlfriends are getting married this year. Although I am not in a this-is-the-last-train-and-I-need-to-get-on kind of rush to get married, I wonder if marriage is sometimes over-rated. Two of my cousins who are married and have a kid each - one is getting a divorce because her husband developed a gambling addiction and owes loansharks alot of money. The other cousin has a husband who is a drifter and is going sideways in his career (read: nowhere). This makes me wonder about Cinderella and if she is still happily married with the Prince after all these years.

It makes me sad to realise that sometimes in reality, love really is not enough and the ever after every girl dreams of achieving is a poorly-made lie. I was discussing marriage with a guy friend who says that marriage is rubbish and people should just cohabit. I think that cohabiting is getting away easy; it's the equivalent of wanting to drive a car but without the legal obligations of having to register your car or pay road tax for it. I was wondering then does this mean that marriage is just a sham since you are now just signing on a piece of paper legalising your love for each other? What ever happened to marriage being an ever after?

Perhaps ever after is a milestone in every girl's life journey where she has found a man who is willing to make a honest woman out of her and recognise her as a legal companion at that point in time - ever after is not guaranteed.



min on Sunday, March 09, 2008