“Leave That Man If He Can’t Give You a Child” — The Day My Mother’s Harsh Advice Changed How I Saw My Marriage Forever
I never thought I would hear those words from my mother. Her voice was sharp, heavy with the wisdom of years, but also with the pain of watching family struggles she could not fix. “Leave that man if he can’t give you a child!” she said, her eyes locking onto mine as if trying to burn the truth into me.
I was sitting across from her in our small family home in Thika, the afternoon sun slanting through the windows. I had been married to Peter for six years, and we had tried everything — doctors, tests, herbal remedies, prayers — but the news always came back the same. I was fertile. Peter… was not.
For years, I had carried the weight of this silent struggle alone. I loved Peter deeply, but the pain of seeing my mother’s disappointment and the whispers of relatives and neighbors had started to erode my patience. Each childless holiday, each family gathering, reminded me that society would always judge me as incomplete.
That day, I had gone home to escape the tension of our home in Nairobi. Peter was working late, and I needed advice, guidance — anything that could help me make sense of my feelings. But my mother’s words were harsher than I expected.
