Wishing Uche Nworah Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary
There is no denying the fact that some marriages are blissful, while others are toxic. Some couples fight incessantly and others do not fight at all. Some marriages end in divorce and others last forever, but what is the secret to a lasting marriage? What makes some couples endure and others give up? Without any iota of exaggeration, the foregoing are the questions that pop up from my subconscious when I saw a post on Chief Uche Nworah’s Facebook page that reads, “Happy 17th wedding anniversary to Ezeudo Enugwu-Ukwu na Umunri, and Ugomba Enugwu-Ukwu na Umunri. We give all glory and honour to almighty God, Amen”.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, the literary journalistic antennae on my thinking cap went to work on how to rejoice with them (Mr. and Mrs. Nworah) on this great occasion, but I immediately saw two major constraints. The first constraint is the fact that we are distant friends as we live far away from each other, and apart in space or time. Not only that, I have someone to interview today by virtue of my job, and being one of the assignments given to me by my editor, it was difficult for me. The catch 22 situation I was faced with was like, “Should I merely like his post on his Facebook page or comment by saying some sweet congratulatory words? I asked myself but my inner mind literarily said, No! I literally heard my inner mind whispered, and said, write a piece to congratulate the couples, and by doing that you will no doubt be sharing salient lessons to couples out there whose marriages are heading for the rock, and about to crash to learn from.
As a writer, I followed the suggestion made by my inner mind but how to write the congratulatory piece such as this became a huge challenge to me. But why thinking about how to start, a common journalistic saying popped into my head. The saying goes thus, “If we put on our thinking caps, we may come up with the answer.” While still battling, I remembered that the real engine of creative writing is the imagination. The ability to create new people from scratch, to put them into scenarios and to tell stories. If you cannot imagine, you cannot write. It is the single most important thing for you to understand about your process.
From the foregoing point of view, my inner mind went to work as I imagined that some of the happiest couples usually have secret to marital success, and that the secrets together always lead to blissful marriage.
One of the secrets says, “Marry your best friend and then never stop being each other's best friend” The secret has it that whenever anyone marries his or her best friend, they don’t just love each other, they romantically take love to Tokyo as they adore each other, spend every moment together. Advisedly put from the foregoing perspective, I am in this context encouraging couples to always strengthen the love between them by each passing day to “Tokyo”, meaning taking it to the next blissful height. Anything that will scuttle the effort to take marriage to its blissful height should be rejected and avoided. In as much as it is often said that best friends are never perfect, and that they have annoying habits and quirks, but couples should at most times love themselves; if not for anything for the uniqueness and abundance of good qualities that are inherent in such relationship that is nurtured by love. As Ezeudo, mark his 17th marriage ceremony today, I am sure he has over the years kept that perspective and all has been well since they were joined in marriage.
Another stratagem which I imagined Ezeudo must have been putting into place to continue deepening the relationship is that of making his wife first in the scheme of the marriage as he sees her as number one. This may sound difficult in many marital relationships, but it is a generally shared knowledge among married couples that when there is a mutual respect that marriage is bound to succeed. Mutual respect in this context means when each other put his or her partner first, they will always be aware of each other's needs, and no one will feel neglected or lonely. The reason for the foregoing cannot be farfetched as marriage has no room for selfishness.
In fact, to say that Ezeudo does not sweat the small stuff will not take anyone that knows him aback as he always come across as someone that puts each day and daily stressors into perspective. Life is made up of trillions of little moments, and you get to choose which ones you want to remember forever. Choose the ones that bring you true happiness. In fact, seeing Ezeudo from afar, as you don’t need to get close to him to know that he lets the bad moments slip away shows that he is someone that has cheerful and positive mindset. The foregoing rare disposition which he always exhibits makes yours sincerely imagined that he makes his wife know that he would spend time with her than anyone else in the world.
In fact, coming out from my bout of journalistic imaginations it dawned on me that Ezeudo truly understands that marriage is a joyous thing. It is the act of two people coming together as one. It involves learning to depend fully on another person and allowing that vulnerability to strengthen your life. It is a daily effort, but a blissful marriage is one where both parties are determined to make the other happy.
To buttress the fact that Ezeudo is unarguably a man of the people and a grassroots personality, in less than 12 hours that he posted the picture of his wedding taken 17 years ago, more than 300 likes have been recorded on his Facebook page as at the time I was penning this piece, and as you read the likes are still counting.
Having eulogized this “Onye Oma” in this piece, and the man that will always respond to every compliment by saying, “Ya Gaze”, I am wishing you and your better half happy and blissful 17th wedding anniversary, and on that note let me emphatically wish you, happy wedding anniversary by saying, “It is easy to fall in love, but it is much harder to stay in love with the same person for the rest of one’s life. Congratulations for another wonderful year of falling in love with each other. Happy wedding anniversary, Ezeudo!