The Journey Throughout My Life

I still wonder what I looked like as a baby, my uncle named me Sakina which means 'peace' and 'serenity'. I guess the name really reflected my personality as I was a calm baby. My parents hadn't taken any pictures of me, because they couldn't afford a camera. I was born in 1969 in the most vibrant city of Pakistan, Lahore. Being the oldest of 8 children, I had to undertake many responsibilities; washing the dishes, making breakfast, mopping the floor and many other things. It wasn't the ideal childhood, but it was still the best as I was surrounded by all my loved ones.

It wasn't long before I was 16, the age when many girls got married at in Pakistan. But, I remember having feelings for someone else who also had the same feelings towards me, however I knew that it wasn't going to work out as I would have been disobeying my parents and they were well known in the society. The guy I wanted to marry came with a marriage proposal to my house, not knowing that my father would reject it. I had to forget about the guy, take him out of my mind and not think about him ever again. (My father wasn't a mean person, but he just knew what was best for me... No parent would want anything bad for their child). He rejected the proposal, because he had someone else in mind for me, a very handsome, tall man called Imran who lived in England. He was my distant cousin, but I had never heard of him before. After hearing this news, I was really excited, just like any other girl would be!  I was the first girl in my family to have received a marriage proposal from England! Within 3 months, I was going to be going to England, the place I longed to go to.