Tai-Tais Having Tea

Sometime last week I had afternoon tea in a coffee shop with my youngest daughter after her tough piano examination.

On our left sat two well-dressed young ladies, heavily made up, in fancy clothes, short skirts, and leather boots. They carried many shopping bags but exchanged few words between them. I guessed they must have been tired after a serious shopping spree.

On our right were two more ladies. I didn’t intend to eavesdrop but couldn’t really block out the conversation since they were just three feet away. Apparently they were discussing a mutual lady friend’s impending wedding.

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O: They are going to have to spend a lot of money. We spent so much on ours we were paying off our debt for months afterwards.

N: Why did you do that, and how did you borrow so much money?

O: Oh, it was just handy to have money to spend on the wedding. And it was easy to borrow. You see, we had 10 credit cards. We just charged 20,000 on each card, and we ended up with 200,000 dollars to spend. Of course, it took us 6 months to pay it back.

N: I guess you can afford it, since your husband makes so much money as a pilot.

O: Oh, it is not as good as you think. He is worried about losing his job. Pilots are actually under a lot of pressure. They have to take several tests a month. If you don’t pass the tests, you are out. Not demoted. But out of the job.

N: ... You should come out more, just like the old days before you get married.

O: I don’t know. These days I don’t seem motivated to do anything since I stopped working. I stay home so much, I don’t even bother to keep myself in good shape. I look half decent today because I spent some time to put on make up. Most days, I don’t even bother.

N: Back to our friend, she is afraid that her future husband my lose interest in her.

O: I told her she should not be so easy. She should play hard to get and refuse to see him some days. I even told her she could stay with me. But she said she only gets to see him three days a week. If she refuses to see him some of the time, then it means she will only see him for two days a week or less. She just couldn’t do it.

... at this point we left the coffee shop because it was too hot in there.
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I pray that my daughters would not grow up to be like anyone of the ladies in the coffee shop.

Disclaimer: I mean no disrespect to wives who say home. I salute the many of them who sacrifice their careers to raise children, support their husbands, and do tremendous volunteer work.