“Spouse”: My Journey Through Love, Labels, and Expat Life
When Hendrie and I started dating, people warned me to “make sure he was going to marry me”, because apparently, no decent Igbo man would marry a woman who had “frolicked with an Oyinbo.” I laughed then. I laugh now.
From Bonny Island to Dubai, Cairo to the Netherlands, and back to Nigeria, my journey as an expat wife has been anything but ordinary. I’ve navigated infertility, long-distance love, passive-aggressive playdates, expired snack diplomacy, and that dreaded word, “spouse”.
Now, nearly 40, I’m done biting my tongue. No fake accent. No pretending. No apologizing for who I am.