“You want to be a lawyer? Ah ah this girl I always knew something was wrong with you”

“what did she say” my mother called out from the kitchen

“Mummy Cheta said she wants to be a lawyer”

my mother let out a hysterical laugh.

“she can’t be serious” she said barely looking at me.

“I’m actually serious, I plan on filing it on my JAMB form” I said.

I was hoping deep down they would be happy with me, with my decision.

my mother cast me a glance, she stood up and came closer.

she looked down at me with a teary smile

“oh nwam, mama mummy, if you become a lawyer, who will marry you?”

I was trying to decipher what she meant but she continued.

“its not like being a lawyer is bad ooo ah mbanu its a good thing, you will make a lot of money. Whole lot of it, but you see, being a lawyer is not a girls thing. It will chase men away form you. Men don’t like women who know too much and if you become a lawyer you will know too much and men will run from you nnem”

I moved backed a little.

she continued

” Now if men run from you thats not a good thing, because you will find it difficult to get married. The primary purpose of a girl is marriage not being a lawyer, throw this talk out the window and when you get to JAMB office you fill in political science”.

she said.

she stood up and went inside.

And as she walked passed my giggling sister she said “its that Adunni, she is the one infusing these strange ideas to her head. I heard them talking about flying planes the other day, these yoruba people sef”

Adunni was my best friend. She wanted to be a pilot.

we both hated Lagos and wanted to study law and aeronautics engineering respectively at UNN.

But as my mother said, these dream should be thrown out of the window.

It was.

Today I teach government at a secondary school with two kids and a dead husband. A salary barely enough to survive on.

Adunni works as a pilot.

she is mad rich.

glad she didn’t throw hers out the window.

this isn’t the life I chose.

It was given to me.