The 25th of August was my Wife’s birthday, however, my wife and I set the 28th of August aside to give two lectures on how we have managed 41 years of friendship and 36 years of marriage because the 25th was a working day.
One thing my wife and I have learnt to do is not to celebrate according to societal expectations.
We buried both my parents three weeks apart. I was about 32 years old. We even built a house just before their death. I was the Men’s Fellowship leader for Imo and Abia States of the Church of God Mission Int. Inc., then. My father was the oldest man in his quarter of Otokutu and I had rich family members, but I decided how I was going to bury my father. He is my father not your own. At the end of the day, I was not owing anybody and I was under no pressure.
When my mother-in-law died, we buried her according to what we felt was appropriate and reasonable, but we were not under pressure. We did it all with pleasure.
Managing our lives, our activities, and my family is our personal responsibility, my wife and I.
We don’t struggle to impress people, whoever, anybody.
We have no status to project or protect.
The dresses we wore today were the ones we wore for my 60th birthday celebration 2 years ago. So they have been used to celebrate 120 years of life. My wife insisted that she would not buy new dresses because she only wore that dress once for my 60th birthday 2 years back. So we did not buy new clothes.
The ram we ate is from my farm, so we did not buy meat.
The hall we used was our hall, and we decorated it with our decoration materials.
My wife had bought all the materials you will need for any ceremony from dishes, cutleries, tables, chairs etc. many years back.
We have a catering department that handled the cooking and service.
We have a full set of musical equipment in the school hall that we use for my conferences and seminars for our students.
I did not buy any big birthday present for my wife because she insisted that we should complete our next project which can buy her any, and the, latest model of the car she wants by January.
Celebrate with sense, not status.
Celebrate with pleasure, not pressure.
Note we don’t recommend our lifestyle to anybody.
We have the right to be different.
The subsequent lectures will reveal more about this unusual couple.
To be continued.
