By Hon. Bamidele Salam
Our courtship lasted 7 years while our marriage just clocked 23 yesterday. In other words I had known her for 30 years.
We both came from a background that was not privileged even though yours was better than mine. God brought us together while we were unsure of what benefits we could derive from each other. The only person who appeared to see this future was your grandmother, God bless her soul.
The old woman spoke so authoritatively on a particular occasion when someone in the family asked if the proposed groom had a car. Mama quickly interjected that this young man will have many cars! I looked at her and wondered if she knew where I was even coming from.
I married you because I just couldn’t find any reason on earth to marry someone else. Now, it is evident that the One who made me knew the missing gaps that needed to be filled in my life and sent you as the full version.
You are more than a wife or a help mate in the ordinary sense of those words. Your sacrifice to make me and our children happy at all times is a gift I can not buy with all the billions in the world. I still have not been able to pay the debt of gratitude I owe you but seeing you in good health and sound mind on the occasion of your 50th birthday brings us great joy and assurance that the better days you laboured these 23 years to build will soon dawn!
Happy birthday sweet friend, covenant partner and God’s angel to me. If there is a choice to be made again and again, be sure you are the only wise option for me!
Hon. Salam is a Member of the House of Representatives for Ede North, Ede South/ Egbedero and Ejigbo Federal Constituency.
