By Segun Durowaiye

Husband and wife
Sir: Stories of tragic lovers are always absorbing and deeply touching.

But for every lover who dies either before or because he has won his love, there are thousands who go on the next stage in the relationship – that of husband and wife.

There was one young high-spirited lady who said to her lover, “If I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.” Most women look on marriage as the achievement of greater status and dignity.

This brings to mind a case of a young lady who had been together with her lover and fiance for many years, doing the house chores and taking care of him from morning till evening.

Suddenly, one particular morning, after their wedding and being married, in holy wedlock, she called her husband by name, “Ajayi, my husband,” she said bluntly while still sleeping by his side, “for 12 years I have got up every morning at five to make tea for you and breakfast. Now I am a married woman, you must treat me with a little more respect. You are now a husband and not a lover. Get up and make yourself a cup of tea and prepare your breakfast yourself.”

Husband and wife relationships vary considerably. At one extreme, there is the excessive devotion which has given a word to the English language, “Uxorious” meaning excessive fondness and frenzied love for one’s wife. One wonders why there is no corresponding word in that category for one’s husband.

In the Yoruba culture, saying and tradition, there is a particular parlance where some women are referred to as, “Aboko ku.” Which aptly means, “A woman who is so infatuated and passionate for her husband that she could die or do anything and everything to keep her man, even up to the point of death!” But this condition is always rare and not general or common.

The rings one gets in marriages are not always the most significant proof of sincere and genuine love between couples and relationships.
O
nly the divine grace, blessings, mercy and hallowed presence of the Almighty God can really make a relationship work and prosper not earthly materials like the ring, if one weighs it very deeply.

God is the only seal that can bind a relationship. It is always good to live a life guided by providence.

Think about it.

Segun Durowaiye can be reached via 08055356855.