6
The Way Out
Life can never be clear-cut. Many times people find themselves indilemmas that seem to have no solution. It could be a career paththat one has disliked over time, a school one wishes to change, or afailing marriage. When people face such situations they always want away out.
But, it is never easy to change some things, like suddenly stop beinga doctor and become a business man, do away with an annoying marriagepartner and start a new relationship with someone else. Chances arethat the new business will have more challenges as compared to thoseof being a doctor. Moving and settling in a new school that seemsbetter may cause more stress. The new partner may have worse flawsthan the one in the previous relationship.
Juliet was an attractive young lady in her late twenties. Shestudied hard and aspired to become an air hostess. The life of havingto fly out of the country every now and then is what she desired. Butas fate would have it, becoming an air hostess was just a dream. AsJuliet got older, she could not stop thinking about her wasted yearsand the fun filled life she would be enjoying.
Life was like pepper to her, bitterly reminding her of theconsequences of her choices. She was now married to Geoffrey. At 21years, she had convinced herself that it was wiser to give up herdreams of flying high and instead get married to the love of herlife. Just as the words “love of her life” she thought thefeeling would last forever. However, with every passing year, shefelt more frustrated with her life.
She disliked her husband. Juliet desired to run away. The man she hadsworn to love forever was the same man she could not stand. She nowrealized how older he was having married her when he was already 30years. Eight years later, he no longer looked as handsome or worththe sacrifice of foregoing her dreams. Juliet hated his unattractiveface, his smiles, his graying and balding hair and all the weight hehad added.
She could not find even a single reason to convince her to like him.Looking around their house, their wedding pictures were all over. Thesmiles in the pictures spoke a thousand words. At some point in hermarriage, she was very happy and looked forward to spending time withthe man she hated. She now thought that the pictures made her lookstupid, throwing away her youthful years to a commitment she alreadywanted out.
As she looked at the pictures, she recalled that every time she hadtold her parents that she wanted to become an air hostess, her motherwould wrinkle her nose in disapproval saying “Surely, there arebetter things for you to do as a woman. What life would you have upthere flying every now and then?” So when she took Geoffrey to herparents, her mother was elated. Juliet had expected that her parentswould disapprove of her getting married at a young age. But, alas! Itis as if they had been eagerly waiting for the moment.
While most of her friends thought that she was making the worstmistake, as some advised her to wait till she was in her mid twentiesbefore settling down. Her parents thought that it was the bestdecision she was making. “I was young and naïve and depended on myparents’ counsel, if they thought my marriage was a good idea, itwas definitely a good thing.” Within no time she was married.
Geoffrey was no longer the loving man she had met. He was morepreoccupied with his work and friends. Juliet was a housewife and allshe could do was sit around the house. Most of her age mates wereleading busy lives, working and building their careers. In fact, shehad very few friends she could now freely associate with.
In her determination to act as a good wife, the house and compoundwas spotless as a whistle, dinner was always ready in time,Geoffrey’s clothes were sparkling and properly arranged. Shefrequented the salon and ensured she looked the part and did a lot ofshopping for new clothes. While people thought that their marriagewas perfect, but deep down Juliet was dissatisfied.
She dreamt of a different life, as a career woman, and not having tospend all day with nothing important to do. She had on severaloccasions mentioned to her husband that she desired to work but likethe mothers wrinkled nose, he shook his head in denial. “I amalready providing for you everything that you need. After all, as mywife, I expect you to spend most of your time in the house” was hisresponse.
This made Juliet’s dislike towards Geoffrey grow deeper. She feltthat he wanted to control her life. In the evening when he returnedfrom work, she realized that she could not stand his presence. Shepreoccupied herself with none existent chores in the kitchen. She didnot want to hear his voice, which was like needles piercing onfabric. She wanted to quit the marriage and start a new and happierlife.
There were a number of ways she would quit the marriage. Theimmediate and obvious approach being a divorce that Juliet consideredbeing a no-no. She knew that if she dared to mention her intentionsto her husband, he would become as restless as ambition. He woulddefinitely call her parents, who would again convince her thatsticking to her marriage was the right thing to do.
She thought hard and decided that the only way out of the boringmarriage was by eliminating Geoffrey. So she began to plot on how shewould kill her husband. Although she wanted him out of her life, themere thought of having him dead made her shiver with fear like a leafblown by wind. She asked herself what would happen supposing herintentions were too obvious to be discovered.
After carefully reflection she noted that she would have to eliminatehim in a manner that would make his death seem as an accident. Thisresulted in her search from all possible sources. In the process,Juliet realized that she finally had something else to preoccupy hertime. After finishing her household chores, she would resort to usingher laptop to search online on murders.
The more she searched the more she made new discoveries. She readstories of people who had killed their spouses, how they had beencaught and the negative effects on their lives. She also read on thepossibility of killing her husband in ways that would make it appearas though he had suffered a severe heart attack.
Apart from researching, Juliet began to compile short notes on whatshe found interesting. The more she read, the more she wrote. Sheslowly realized that the problem was not her husband. She had givenup her life to becoming a housewife and failed to also focus on otherthings apart from serving her husband.
In the process of her search, she had come across links advertisingon ways to create a blog. Juliet decided to open a blog where shewould write and post on her boring life and how she regrets havingsettled for marriage. She enjoyed writing, and with something to doshe no longer felt bored. Within a short time, she started to shareher stories and blog online and got a few likes. At the same time,she also ensured that she perfected her writing skills. In a fewweeks, Juliet had more likes. She even forgot that she wanted toeliminate her husband.
The more people read her stories, the more they shared and commented.Soon her blog was like a community, where fellow housewives wouldvent their daily experiences and chat with each other. Julietrealized that she had been wrong all along, thinking that her husbandwas the cause of her misery. Provided she had something morefulfilling to do, she no longer thought of him as boring.
One morning while her husband was preparing to leave for work, thephone rang. As Juliet rushed to pick the phone call, her husband hadalready received the call. From his facial expressions, she observedthat he was surprised. As he ended the phone call, he said “youhave been nominated as the best blogger of the month.” Juliet wasoverjoyed and there and then decided that she wanted to become ablogger.
She no longer harbored resentment towards her husband. She began tolike him and convinced herself that her initial dislike towards himhad made her discover something new and interesting to do. As Millman(7) notes, “a story and its lessons are only made useful ifshared.” Although she could no longer become an air hostess, shewas now more content as a blogger.
Work Cited
Millman, Dan. Wayof the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives. ReadHowYouWant.com,Limited, 2009. Print.