When two people are meant for each other,
No time is too long,
No distance is too far
And nobody can keep them apart!

You don’t find love, it finds you!
It’s got to do a little bit with destiny, fate
and what’s written in the stars!

Once upon a time, in the Eastern part of Nigeria, there lived a young man and his wife who were expecting their first child. On this fateful day in the surgical theatre, a very skilled nurse Brunette assisted a doctor in pulling out a healthy baby girl. At first, the baby didn’t cry and the nurse had to suck out amniotic fluid from her nose. Finally, the baby breathed and let out a loud cry. The nurse then said “chai, mkpuru mma! Anyi ga alu gi oo” meaning “oh what a beauty! We will marry you”, inferring her son, or maybe a relative will marry this beauty when she’s of age!

That baby grew up to become Chidiebere….

So time passed! And several years down the line….

Ben’s Story

I had just graduated from Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) and went to sign some documents in The School of Engineering. I saw a pretty, chocolate damsel with the most amazing smile & intense look in her eyes! I overheard her conversation with her mates and all she screamed to me was “beauty and brains”… something I had never seen before! I was enchanted from that moment. She said hello to me in what felt a familiar way and I was enthralled. The only thing that came to mind was, “this is my sort of girl… I want you as mine”. It was like a message from above but I did nothing about it. After all, I’d left school then and she was unlikely to be interested in a guy like me who was no longer on campus.

Few months later I went back to FUTO to perform at a Musical Concert. The performance was great and all these wonderful people came crowding round to say hello. Guess who appeared again, having waited patiently for her turn – yes, the same lovely damsel!! This time, I wasn’t going to be naive or let the opportunity slip. So I gave her some attention. We chatted a bit and exchanged contacts. We kept in touch a bit before I traveled to England and lost communication.

And fate did it again…. We reconnected on Facebook and our friendship continued. Both of us were in relationships at the time but we talked about everything! From philosophy to science to arts and poetry. We became each other’s confidant, discussing confusing parts of a relationship from the other gender’s point of view. We sibling-zoned ourselves in a way. We became so close that we knew what the other person wanted without it being said….and yet, no emotions. On Facebook we usually joined forces to debate with other people or defend each other from cyber attacks 😉. During one of our Facebook debates, I called her my wife publicly. I honestly didn’t know where that came from. After I did that, I started to think that this was my inner mind talking. She didn’t talk to me for a while after that as she was a bit embarrassed.

It all still carried on in my mind. It was a seed that was growing fast!

Chidi’s Story

After Ben called me his wife on Facebook, I was a bit taken aback. It felt kinda good because I had always admired him but I was also a bit disappointed as I felt he was was acting like one of “those guys”. When I told him later that I wasn’t comfortable about it as such a relationship didn’t exist between us, his response was, “why not?”. A shocking silence ensued…. An emotion was stirred deeply! The more I avoided it, the bigger it rumbled on!

After a bit of convincing, I traveled to the UK. Truth is, I had a work meeting in UK but my main motivation was seeing Ben. I could only judge by how I felt as soon as I saw him. The moment I set my eyes on him after so many years, I knew he was the one.

The weird things started – like completing each other’s sentences, thinking same thoughts at the same time, giving exactly the same answer when asked the same question independently…. Everything that lets you know you are finally complete! It continued to happen this way and there were a few more visits to the UK.

The Proposal

There was no drama, Ben was reciting what seemed to be a poem about “14 years of friendship”…… I had thought he was reading something on Facebook. I turned round to check and he said, “so after 14 years, the feelings are the same…. I’m at peace with what I see and with who you are. Please come on this journey with me…. Chidi, please marry me.”

The world stopped! And a new world started in my heart – and really quickly too! I wanted to ask “are you serious?” but all I found myself saying was “yes, I’ll go on this journey with you”

So things always seem to go back to where they started!
When the parents met after the proposal they realized that The Nurse in the theater was Ben’s Aunt (his Dad’s first sister)! As she predicted, fate still brought us together after so many years.

“Chidi was born for me” – Ben

Enjoy viewing the remaining pictures