Hello Ahjumma!

It happened on that weekly single ladies’ night session. She was swooning over how she loved KDramas; how she returned to it after a long hiatus; and, gosh, how KDramas are very addicting! These friends don’t seem to share that same passion. Perhaps because these are friends who are ten or so years younger than her?

Yes, she has close ties with those who are way younger or way older than her. She finds life is more colourful with friends from both ends of the spectrum. To her, these single ladies are special. There isn’t any other way to feel about them. She’s single anyway. She justifies that it’s not by choice but by chance. But who really knows?

Single ladies her age are scarce. Most of the friends her age are now enjoying the ‘merry’ married life. She’s still friends with them, though. But there are moments when she feels out of place in their world. She feels like a rotten tomato in a basket full of good ones.

That’s why she’s hanging out with the single ladies. With the single ladies, she feels liberated. The freedom to be just herself is exhilarating. With the younger single ladies, she can feel their youth as if she is from their generation. Her world perspective changes as if her tomorrow still has too much to offer and that time isn’t closing in.

There is still much time, she tells herself.

“You’re an Ahjumma!”

The younger lady blurted out on that single ladies’ night session. In a blink on an eye she realises there isn’t much time, really. Reality is, time is closing in.

She felt offended at the thought that she is now an “Ahjumma”. The head of the arrow dug too deep into the bull’s eye. Time ran out. She is an Ahjumma no matter how deep she buries her head into the sand. Reality stinks sometimes. And just like that, the universe issues a reminder out of nowhere, giving a chance to straighten the crooked perspective.

She is now an Ahjumma – she can either deny or embrace that fact.

Ahjumma is a Korean word that technically means “a married or middle-aged woman”. In KDrama world, the word is loosely used by a younger person as a “term of endearment” (or respect) for middle-aged women, single or married.