Modern Woman

Thank y’all for your responses. At this time, I am not sure whether or not I will be traveling to Pakistan. If I do, we will decide in February for a March trip. At this moment, I continue to look for a right job that I am passionate about and that will benefit my career path. If such a job does not present itself, then we will consider other options for me including travel and starting my family (Insh’Allah).

Even though I have only been there one time, I do think that I would feel more comfortable than not, staying with my in-laws (especially since it would likely be only a month or so). I have spent enough time with my MIL to trust that she would be very supportive. I thank Allah that I am blessed with such a wonderful family. I leave it up to him to guide me to my hubby's homeland.

My friend was here in my new home visiting. She is a friend from college. We had some wonderful times. Each time a person on my past comes into my life, I am reminded about how great my hubby is and how much I have changed over the years.

We had a heart to heart talk with my friend. She is struggling. She is 31, not married and very lonely. She and I talked about how we American girls were brought up with the ideas that we were to not be foolish and marry and have kids young. We are expected to go to college, build our careers and become strong, independent women. Sometimes, we don’t find our future spouses in college nor in our first jobs. Then one day, we wake up in our late twenties and scared about becoming lonely single spinsters without children. But, of course our college education and work experiences help to shape the people who we become and we can’t imagine our life without them.

It is tough to grow up as a woman in a lot of places. We must remember that it is also difficult in a modern and free society. Believe me, there are days that I wish that I could have started my family by now.

I also think about some families (some first generation American) that encourage their daughters to go to college, but really have no desire for the woman to work. These types of families want their daughters to learn and to have the security of a degree, but are more concerned about them marrying out of college rather than working.

I think that there needs to be a balance. Obviously marriage and family are more important than anything. I also know that being a mother is the hardest job. But, I struggle with the vision of a work force, government, social service sector, etc run by men only. There are differences between men and women and women add such a unique and much needed flavor to our society.

My hope is that our educated and hard-working women will find their loved ones who will support them through the beginning phases of her career and then transition into family-hood.