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LOVE ALWAYS WINS<br />
Mr & Mrs Itheka<br />
Love always wins because love brought<br />
us together. Love teaches you alot and<br />
will demand you to be creative in how<br />
display that love to your statehouse,<br />
your Bubba such that the love is felt<br />
even when 3000 miles away. Our love<br />
proved that distance is just a test of<br />
how far love can travel. Hence the<br />
phrase love is not an emotion but an<br />
action.<br />
When we first met, there was a<br />
connection that couldn’t be silenced,<br />
we realized we belonged together.<br />
Though we came from different<br />
backgrounds and experiences, we<br />
found out that being together brought<br />
out the best in us. We learned to be<br />
vulnerable to each other sharing<br />
our weaknesses and insecurities. We<br />
decided to paint our own picasso<br />
choosing to be present, in all seasons<br />
of our lives which gave birth to a<br />
beautiful relationship.<br />
Prayer has always been a pillar in<br />
our relationship. We had to made an<br />
intentional decision to communicate<br />
and be open to each other no matter<br />
what. We had to consider we were<br />
in two different time zones and our<br />
careers which demanded our attention.<br />
We had to accept that we had<br />
different ideologies and perspective<br />
and ensure everyone had a voice<br />
in the relationship. We also realised<br />
that simple things also brought us<br />
together for example our love for art,<br />
the way we see it, feel it, expess it and<br />
how we celebrate it was so similar.<br />
We appreciated that we compliment<br />
each other in every aspect of our<br />
lives which was exciting. Through this<br />
journey we have expressed highs and<br />
lows, which has helped us to be better<br />
individuals for each other. The biggest<br />
of tests was when we were preparing<br />
for our wedding, family introduction<br />
ceremonies, our traditional and church<br />
wedding ceremonies. These were a<br />
challenge because we planning took<br />
place across two different countries.<br />
Thank God for technology and the<br />
Internet as platforms such as WhatsApp<br />
made life easier in facilitating planning<br />
and communication.<br />
We quickly learned that we were own<br />
resource as often when we delegated<br />
tasks to friends or family they would<br />
disappoint us. There were long nights<br />
often due to long calls for planning<br />
diplomacy. We also had to create time<br />
for each other to bond outside of the<br />
wedding plans which was crucial to<br />
us.Sometimes the internet was not on<br />
our side as it was either too weak or<br />
not there at all... We even had a slogan<br />
everytime we had issues with internet...<br />
Tuko pamoja...( we are together). Leave<br />
was planned meticulously to facilitate<br />
shorts visits. It is in this time that we<br />
also got to realise our strengths as a<br />
team, budgeting was definitely a skill<br />
we got to be disciplined on . We also<br />
got to know how to be real and honest<br />
even when it could cost us our pride.<br />
We were aware that coming from<br />
different backgrounds and upbringing<br />
sometimes was both a carrot and stick.<br />
The best thing is we had established<br />
that we would not let that sun set<br />
before sorting any differences which<br />
was not always easy given the presence<br />
of egos and our strong personalities.<br />
We were privileged to have a beautiful<br />
traditional and church wedding. God<br />
in his divine ways brought people who<br />
we never expected as well as strangers<br />
to support us. The vision we had for<br />
our wedding was fulfilled and we loved<br />
our wedding celebrations. We danced,<br />
we ate and we worshipped God for his<br />
outlandish Grace. Seeing our friends<br />
and family united in song and dance<br />
was the best thing ever! Our<br />
advice to couples planning their<br />
wedding is to ensure to go through<br />
all the details over and over with your<br />
service providers and have contracts<br />
written out.<br />
The hardest moment for us was when<br />
Makena had to go back to work soon<br />
after the wedding. We went back<br />
to the video calls, voice calls and<br />
messages (which was not fun). We had<br />
now entered a new dynamic of long<br />
distance marriage. We had to learn to<br />
encourage each other that one day we<br />
would conquer this mountain called<br />
distance. The words I miss you carried<br />
many meanings to both of us, as a wife<br />
who would want to find her husband at<br />
the bus stop waiting to take her home,<br />
and a husband who wished to be with<br />
his wife at his events and stop those<br />
irritating question where is your wife?<br />
I miss you are were not just ordinary<br />
words but echoed our deep desire to<br />
have our companionship complete<br />
and live together. God is gracious He<br />
granted us our prayer to live in the<br />
same country and we finally conquered<br />
the mountain called distance.<br />
55<br />
4THEDITION<br />
| |JULY 2019<br />
55
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