Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

My dear dad once told me to focus on school, just do all that mattered with school, then my life partner would arrive.

I listened. Cut my hair and dove straight into what being a doctoral student was all about, bald head and all with jewelry making on the side.

Then my dad died and even though I was not prepared for the next phase of life without him, somehow we continued and right before I was to graduate with my doctoral degree, it was as if my father was in heaven orchestrating for me to meet my dearly beloved who stood next to me on this most important journey.

Two things about the two of them, they are both Leo’s, both very opinionated and both lovers of knowledge. If you asked what moments in life I would love to linger on and on, I”ll say 2. The first, the endless nights with no light at our home in Festac, where I would ask/interview my father and he would oblige with so many stories of his life. The same holds with my dear hubby. If you asked what moments I would love to linger and linger and it would nights, dark, and silent, when all you would hear are our stories of building, dreaming, being, for this thing we call life.

I never imagined that my dad would send a helper that acted just like him to fill the void that I never imagined could be filled. But days and night with my dear Zobam are full of stories that keep unfolding, stories that never lose their elegance, stories that never lose their significance.

Mary Oliver once asked what would we do with this beautiful life of ours. My answer live and love with the one named after God. Chizobam, you have saved me from myself, saved me too from this world that even if I come back again, I would prefer to dwell next to you, again and again. Thank you for being who you are. May the genesis of our union, like the stories we keep writing of how this life keeps unfolding, continue to bear astounding fruits to the glory of God. Amen. Happy Anniversary!