‘I’m unmarried and happy!’
All Woman is pleased to introduce our Marriage & the Family series, with uplifting content from Family & Faith Magazine, founded by Editorial Director Shelly-Ann Harris.
ONE of the main ways women expect to gain happiness in their lifetime is through marriage. The imagined love of a handsome, strong and faithful husband can be intoxicating for many women, especially those who grow up in church and have a traditional view of how a happy life should look.
However, media personality, author and beloved gospel sensation Nadine Blair says she is “single, unmarried and happy”.
Daughter of Bishop Dr Ronald Blair and Reverend Evon Blair, Nadine is a long-time radio host on Love 101 radio, convenor and creator of Perpetual Praise gospel group, a sought-after emcee for major gospel events, and author of Sing Your Song. And if things had gone according to plan many years year ago, wife would have been another title attached to her name.
“I should have gotten married years ago but about two weeks before the wedding everything changed. The wedding dress was bought, fruits for the cake soaked, invitations out, but I sat down with my then fiancé and we decided, ‘let’s put a pause’, and it just never happened. It was the hardest thing but I became stronger,” Blair declared.
The Sing Your Song author loves to share this part of her story in order to help those who may feel trapped by how far along their wedding plans are.
“There are so many people who feel that because you have gone that far you have to go ahead with it and there are times when you have to pause and then go ahead with it and there are times when you have to pause and stop,” she admonishes. “It has taught me a lot about myself — that I can still be strong and still be single and still not want to get married and still be happy and find pleasure in empowering others. It’s a good place.”
But the affable media personality confesses that when it comes to self-acceptance and confidence she wasn’t always in a good place.
“It took me years to come to a place of accepting me for who I am. I am black, I am dark-skinned and I have big nose and big forehead. It was a real struggle growing up.”
Of course the high colour, browning culture in Jamaica didn’t make it any easier.
“My best friend is light-skinned. We would be walking and guys would be hailing her, so as a teenager all the guys would be hailing her and nobody was paying me any attention, but it took me a while to learn that I was good enough. It is something I still struggle with to a degree, but not as it was growing up,” she said.
Skin colour continued to be an issue well into Blair’s adult years.
“I remember one of the first times I was on radio and somebody called in and said, ‘Oh I thought you were brown’,” she recalled.
Today, the engaging, effervescent radio host believes that all of these experiences have served to make her stronger and enable her to empower others.
“Our struggle is not for us, it is for somebody else who is seeing this (story), who will read my book, who will hear me testify, that is going through that thing and feeling that they are not enough,” she reasons. “Right now I find joy in going and talking with young people because I want them to know that they are enough. You are enough.”
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