Thread by @GbengaWemimo

His mother was an amazon
A woman of many talents and abilities
His mother woke up as early at 4AM every day and she was always the last to sleep
His mother raised the children all by herself
Their father, a teacher, got tired of living from hands to mouth and decided to seek

greener pastures abroad
That was how his mother was left with seven children to raise by herself
His mother, also a teacher, combined catering and petty trade to her work
All the children learned how to knead the dough and assist in making snacks every day after school and every

weekend
They were trained to be industrious
To be self-sufficient and never to beg for anything
As the third child, he learned how to make chin-chin (Mix the flour and fry the chin-chin) at the age of 10
His older sisters started helping out at the age of 8
His mother would often

say, "It is the lazy that waits for a break in life, the hardworking will inevitably make his or her own luck"
He found his mother's words to be golden
For him and his siblings, being entrepreneurial came naturally
It was the path their mother laid their feet on
They started

making and taking chin-chin and other snacks to their schools to sell to their classmates secretly from JSS 1
They knew the value of money, how to make money and how to save money
They all had piggy banks where they saved their earnings and most of them would rather walk home

after school hours in order to save the transport fare than board a bus
There was a year when he was thirteen that the money he saved for the year was used to sew him his Christmas suit and shoes without a penny added by his mother
It was the proudest Christmas of his life
He and

his siblings would later add their savings together to buy a colored television set and video for their house and also to change the furniture, draperies and pay their own way through the university
His mother was the type of woman a man could die and be sure would take care of

his children without sleeping around or whining about life's unfairness and bursting apart at the seams
When they later discovered that in the quest to get a green card, their father had remarried and forgotten all about them, they didn't miss a step
At no point did their mother

throw up her hands to say "Your father betrayed me and abandoned me with seven children, I am tired! I want to be loved too and to just sleep while somebody brings me breakfast in bed or I want a man to take care of me while I laze away or I just had my nails done and can't wash!

His mother remained beautiful, so beautiful and attractive that she had a lot of suitors willing to marry her or become her lover when it became obvious that their father wouldn't be returning to man the house
What attracted the men to his mother was her success!
She rose to

the position of a principal and also took up a job as a part-time lecturer in one of the state Universities before the age of 43
She had a gift shop, a supermarket, and a nursery and primary school which grew out of a creche his mother started in their house
Relatives throng to

them for help and assistance
Imagine a single woman raising seven children and still taking in children of other struggling relatives for training
None of those who passes through his mother's tutelage turned out a failure in life
His mother was one of a kind
His mother was what

he wanted in a woman
An innovative, industrious, maternal, disciplined, go-getter, zealous, passionate, loving, innovative, adaptable, and flexible woman
The kind of woman that could literally draw water out of rock like his mother
That was his one an only dream and he found her

when he was in the university
He found her during a visit to a classmate he had always admired at the female hostel
The classmate casually mentioned a lady in their hostel who was a hairdresser, a foodstuff seller, a recharge card seller, a moneylender, a tailor and first-class

student two rooms down the block
His classmate said the lady would be the first to wake up in the hostel and the last to sleep
His classmate was wondering how the lady was coping with all the projects, assignments, and other tasks
He loved the lady even before meeting her
She was

the one he had been dreaming of
He met her two days later at a classroom
She had gone to the classroom to study and he practically stalked her
He waited until she had settled down before making his approach
He knew her kind
SHe will not be interested in long speeches and waste my

time affair
He told her the truth
That he heard about her from a lady in her hostel and had taken a few days to check out the facts for himself
He asked if they could be friends with the possibility of getting married sometime in future
He made his pitch in seven minutes
She

replied by looking intently at him for about thirty seconds and saying "Tell me about yourself"
He did the short biography in five minutes, she nodded and said "I will tell you about myself tomorrow, I will like to go back to my study now"
He excused her and got a smile from her

as he was walking out of the classroom
They started meeting in the class daily and he stayed with her for longer periods over the course of that semester
She combined spending time with him with all her other activities and she still excelled
He was like her in every way
He was

a barber in the hostel, he sold soft drinks and other refreshments from his room, he had a business center on campus which he equipped with computers, photocopy machines etc.
He was also a first-class student
Neither of them had to depend on each other for anything apart from

love and company
They bounce business ideas off each other and inspired each other to start a thrift collection business on campus towards their final year which was a success in both the male and female hostels
They graduated together
He was posted to Ondo state for NYSC while

she was posted to Taraba State
The plan was to get married immediately after NYSC
It never happened
He called & texted daily from his base
He visited her once after the first three months
Then the calls and text stopped coming from her
She didn't call to officially dissolve their

friendship
He never even got the chance to stake his claim and fight for her
She met a local government chairman while trying to garner support for her community project at the community she was posted to
She planned to build a health care center and sink a borehole in the

community
It was a very expensive project but she was determined to get it done
She met several influential people in the community
One of them was quite rich and proposed to marry her
One thing led to another
She got pregnant and became the man's third wife
The man flew her to

Dubai after a small introduction and wedding ceremony
He got all that from the lady's younger sister
The lady never even said goodbye
He didn't know what to think
Perhaps she never saw what he saw or she never wanted what he wanted
Maybe they were just not meant to be together

He had spent four years with her
Not once did she give him any indication that she was not on board with his plan
He took it quite badly
It was supposed to be
He couldn't see anything but her in his future
The one thing an entrepreneur cannot do in a corrupt society was get

distracted
The broken heart cost him dearly
Wolves from within his staff members sank their teeth in his business until it bled from many sources
By the time he recovered and sacked all the crooks responsible, he found himself in a huge financial mess
The thrift business had been

targetted and many customers were owed
He had to sell some assets to repay the debts and also clear loans taken from a commercial bank by sacked staff members who used his assets as collaterals without his knowledge
He was set back in many ways
After months of putting so much

energy into rebuilding, he gave up and decided to search for a job
He just didn't feel up to the task anymore
He got an interview offer
Went to the office on a Monday morning and met a lady at the reception
She was two years younger than him, she was very friendly and warm
They

chatted like friends for about two hours
He assumed she was there for the interview just as he was but he was wrong
She was the MD of the company
He didn't get the job
She heard about his business acumen and the loss he suffered and told him she could be of help but not as his

employer
She wrote him a cheque of 20 million naira
She told him to call it a soft loan and get back to what he knew how to do best
She was his saving grace
With her help, he bounced back and built his thrift business to the point where it became a microfinance bank in two years

She was with him all the way, guiding, supporting, and helping with the connections he needed for approvals and all
He married her three years after they met
She was everything he never wanted in a woman
Her career was her life, her only life
She couldn't cook, she would sleep

early and wake up late
She would be on her phone for half of the time they are together talking with friends and relatives
She was born into money and had known a privileged life all her days
She could practically handle nothing without calling him even when he travelled out of

country
"Honey, my car tyre just went down" (She had a driver!)
"Honey, the driver didn't wash the car, he just parked it please talk to him"
When they had children she had no idea how to back a baby or bathe a baby
Her mother too had no clue
They had to employ a nurse to help

out
And three housemaids to do the house chores
She would sit and watch tv all-day
It was quite irritating for him but he coped with it as much as he could
After their fifth wedding anniversary, he decided he had had enough
He was so rich at that point that he didn't need her

support in anyway so the one thing she brought to the marriage had become useless
In every other aspect, he just couldn't cope with her
He told her he wanted a divorce
He told her despite all his complaints and admonitions, she remained the same
He was tired of dying in silence

She cried her eyes out
She said she was just being herself
Why couldn't he see that and let her be?
Why destroy everything they had built because he wanted to live an idea when he could live in their reality
It wasn't as if things weren't getting done
He was just unhappy because

they were not getting done by her in their home.
She reached out to the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
What do I do?
The three of them met
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked the husband to describe the church to him as he sees it today
(Both of them are believers)
The husband

talked about the spots, wrinkles, blemishes, and scandals known to all those who see the church from a worldly perspective
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked the husband if he thought Jesus is proud of the church as the church currently stands
The husband said No
The Bother

in Jeans and T-shirt asked the brother why Jesus had not abandoned the church
The Brother kept mute
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt reminded him that Love is a decision
The Brother made the decision to love a certain type of woman and never made the effort to love his wife and

work with her as Christ still works with the church to make the church better!
A lot of crying and apologies followed
The Brother pulled down the stronghold of his ideal woman and began to learn to love his wife
His wife also adjusted and learned to do many things for him
Their

marriage is 10 years today
Brother and Sister ID and Chichi, I celebrate God in you
Thank you for making the impossible possible and bringing to more love children into this world
You are a shinning example to many in this generation
Thank you for loving each other deliberately!

@threadreaderapp compile