04/04/2020
BEFORE WE GO TO BED INSPIRATION.
ARE U SINGLES, MARRIED, SEPARATED, DIVORCED OR JUST STARTING ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP? LET US USE THIS CORONA VIRUS HOLIDAY TO REDESIGN OUR LIVES. MAY GOD BLESS US AWAIT YOUR COMMENTS & CONTRIBUTION .
MY HUSBAND, THIS WIFE WILL STAND BY YOU.......
She saw her husband walking inside the restaurant.
She smiled and waved at him and he came to sit next to her, there at the corner table inside the restaurant.
"Hi honey" she greeted him.
"Hi" he greeted her back as he sat down.
"He will have a bread and ginger tea" she told the waiter who stood next to them.
"You didn't find traffic on your way?" She asked him as she sipped her white tea that was already quarter way drunk. She had been sitting there waiting for him for twenty minutes.
"You know this city peak hours. There is a lot of traffic. I am here now. Why are we here?" He said.
"I wanted us to talk" she replied.
"Aaahmmm.... Honey, we have a house. Couldn't we talk at home? Why are we here yet we can drink tea at home?" He wondered.
"Come on Darling. Just because we are married doesn't mean we can't go out on a date. I just wanted to talk with my husband in a new environment.
We have been so used to the walls at home, I wanted a fresh mood and environment to talk" she let him know.
The waiter brought the bread and ginger tea.
"Thank you" she said.
"Our children? Who is at home with them?" he asked.
She smiled and said, "You worry too much. My sister has visited us. My sister is with them"
He sank his teeth in the bread and chewed.
"Good. But it can use a little less oil. It's too oily" he said.
She looked at him chewing the bread and sipping the ginger tea.
"I love you" she told him.
"I love you too" he said back as he took another bite of the bread.
"Are you happy?" She asked him.
"Yes" he answered.
"Are you really happy?" she asked.
"Yes I am, I have a good wife and four amazing children" he said sipping his ginger tea.
"Besides your marriage and children, are you happy?" she asked further.
"What exactly are you driving at?" he asked her.
"I know you. You are not happy. You have sacrificed so much for your family that you have forgotten about yourself.
You are barely getting by, making sure all bills are paid at home. But you have lost your joy, your drive. Honey, you don't smile anymore. You stopped dreaming" she said.
He placed both his hands on the table and looked at her.
"Honey, you have shelved your dreams for the sake of your family. You are a great man, husband and father.
But you have hidden yourself and it is affecting your joy and fulfilment. You love us yes, but you are not happy" she spoke looking directly into his eyes.
His eyes started welling up with tears.
"I see how you look at other men who are more successful than you. You watch them shine in their element and you wish you could be them.
You see how they succeed and you wonder why not you? You look at them driving powerful cars, giving their children the best, changing the world, doing great things and you feel left behind. I see sadness in your eyes. You feel stuck" she said.
He tried fighting the tears in his eyes.
"Can we talk about something else?" he asked her looking away.
She brushed his hand and said, "No my love. We will talk about this now. For far too long we have been brushing this under the carpet. You will explode keeping all this inside you.
You used to love your job but not anymore. You want something more. I watch you rise each morning for work and it is a struggle.
You have been working in that company for years, little promotion. In your adult life, you have been working to build someone's vision. What about your vision? What about your dreams?"
He started swinging his leg. His wife was touching a subject he would rather ignore.
"You don't see yourself as a failure now, but if we continue ignoring this, one day when you have little energy to do much and your age is too far gone, you will regret why you never did anything about your dreams.
Honey, there is more to your life than marriage and family. You were not born to be a slave to your family. You were not born to suppress your vision just so that you can pay bills. God did not create you to pay bills.
There is something in you that you know is God given. Something you love to do that brings you joy" she told him squeezing his hands.
He looked at her deeply, this wife who knows him so well.
She continued, "Do you want to know why I brought you here? When we were younger, before we got married and had children; years ago, you used to bring me here for dates.
And you would study the menu here and tell me of your dream of one day having your own restaurant"
She reached inside her purse and removed an old table napkin.
"Remember this?" She asked him showing him the table napkin.
"You kept this? All those years?" He was shocked.
"Yes I did. Happy Conner, that was what you wrote on the napkin eighteen years ago. You said that would be the name of your restaurant.
Because it would be a place for live music and African dishes. You have always loved to entertain and good food. Look at how you critiqued the bread today.
Look at how you love to be the master of ceremony during family and work events. You love to do this. You love bringing people together through food and music.
You were born for this. Where you are working, you have outlived that place" she told him.
He laughed in amazement.
"I really can't believe you have kept this all those years. How?" He was dumbfounded.
She touched his hand and said, "Because I believe in you. I am the custodian of your hopes and dreams.
I am your wife, your helper. How can I help if I don't know what you are passionate about? You used to be so aggressive, so hungry to do things. Now you are just comfortable, part of a system that is keeping you from your dreams as your white hair are starting to grow"
He folded the old table napkin. Looked at her and asked, "Honestly honey, what do you want me to do, quit work? What will happen with our bills?"
She played with his thumb then told him, "I am asking us to have a plan. Things don't just happen. Remember our wedding day?
How we planned it and how wonderful it turned out to be?
Honey, you and I can do great things when we put our heads and effort together. We are a power couple. Let's bring back the power we had when we were getting married. When planning our wedding you were a risk taker, passionate"
He looked at her with half a smile and said, "You talk as if it is so simple"
She told him, "It will not be simple, but it is possible. Honey, the owner of this restaurant is not a human like us? Your boss, the President, Dangote, Oprah, our landlord, are they more special than us? No, they are succeeding and living their dreams because they put work in their dreams.
I will be more than the wife who knows your dreams, I will push you and challenge you to be the best you. Honey, the only way you can create joyful wealth is when you do what you love. Stop putting away your purpose in life, your dream.
You will age faster when you deny your dreams life and soon our marriage will be affected because you will not be a fulfilled individual. You will blame me and our children for hindering you from living the life you wanted.
This is not even about money but doing what you love. You are a people's person. Arise my husband. Dream again. Let's have a plan how we will do it. How you will leave your current work in a year or two years time. Let's start somewhere. I believe in you. I believe in us"
He laughed shaking his head. His eyes came alive.
"I love you. I am blessed to have you in my life" he told her.
That day, there at the restaurant, they came up with a five year plan as a couple. He began to dream again. She jotted down on her notebook all the things they discussed. Truly a power couple.
They left the restaurant hand in hand smiling.
"My love, why are we focusing so much on my dream. What about yours? You also need to do what you love" he told her as they went home.
She smiled and said, "I have two dreams. One, to make sure my husband succeeds and two, to have an interior design company. I love decorating homes, spaces and landscaping.
And on that note, I am the one who is in charge of the interior design of your restaurant"
They both laughed.
Then he told her, "Correction my love, it's our restaurant"
Blessed are you if you have a spouse who believes in you, supports you and challenges you to grow.
May God save us all from deadly Coronavirus!!!
