My mother has been getting on my nerves ever since the divorce.
“She’s become so rude ever since her second marriage,” she’d say whenever I joked around or said anything.
She’d say this in front of my aunts and siblings. Even in front of my sister’s fiance.
I wondered what to do.

If I talk back, then they’ll really believe I’m rude and vulgar.
Should I say nothing? But it makes me so angry.
Is what they say true?
Am I really a rude and vulgar person?

At night, I’m usually up for 3 or 4 hours obsessing over this.
But I’ve done nothing to deserve their insults.
Why does she call me rude?
Why does nobody care that I’m tired?

It bothers me whenever I’m asked why I’m still single.
Why I still haven’t remarried.
The people who ask me these questions usually aren’t close.
For example, one time my father’s cousin asked me how long I planned to stay unmarried.
When I pretended not to hear him, he asked me why I wasn’t replying to the question.

“I tried my luck twice before and don’t plan on giving it another go”, I said.
He rattled off the usual responses:
“You’re not the first or last person to have a failed marriage. Some get married 6 or 7 times.”
I looked at his wife and stayed silent.
“I want you to remarry and get a brother for your daughter,” my grandma said when I visited her.
“What is going on? Why is everyone on my case?” I said

My aunt also had to make her opinion known:
“Get married, girl. Some women your age haven’t even married a first time.”
I left them and went upstairs to visit my uncles’ wives.
It was like they had all conspired against me.
They all kept insisting I get married.
“I have my daughter, and she’s enough. I just want to raise her and make sure she gets a good education. That’s all,” I said.