When I lived in Baghdad, (people) would slap themselves in the face when a woman would give birth to a girl. (They) were worried about how much money she would cost them, which man would take her, (whether) she would be a good girl or not…all of those things. My mother and father had one boy and one girl. My brother and sister. (People) said to my mother, “you need to give birth to another boy. That would be a good thing to happen. You need to have another son.” And (she) got pregnant, and (she) gave birth to me. (People) say that when my father heard that my mother had given birth to a girl, he didn’t speak to her for three weeks. But no matter. (He) started…(to see me as though) I was his daughter. He would take me wherever he went, and teach me, and (it was) good…I was by his side a lot. When I was ten years old, we came to America. And my mother started thinking. She was afraid to speak. How much (money) will we (need to) bring a man for this (girl)? How much will this girl cost? How much money will she need?I heard (this) and said, “what are you talking about? I won’t take him (a man)! He should love me. I don’t want money! He shouldn’t need a (financial) deal in order to take me.” She said, “if you don’t find someone to take you, what will you do? What will all of us do?” I said to her, “no…I won’t get married. What’s wrong with that?” She said to me, “your death (would happen) before you not getting married. Your death (would happen) before (that).”