Chronicles of ajidara – Wedding steps #2

Is that rain?

It wasn’t raining that morning when I woke up; it didn’t start raining as I went about my morning chores hurriedly. The clear cloudless skies did not betray the conniving rain that was about to delay my appearance at my second step.

I was ready, my camera loaded with rolls of film with which I would take pictures at the wedding. But as soon as I was done coating my virgin face with a single layer of white powder, it started to rain.

I had been excited about the wedding, imagining how I would get to the venue early to capture every second from the walk up the aisle to vote of thanks.

I would be like a wedding photographer, only that my pictures would be taken with my mind camera, developed into words, and printed on my blog.

But how would I do it, would I seat at the edge of my seat trying to take a mental note of everything that happened?

Wouldn’t that make me look too serious? Just how do I do my debut coverage and enjoy the wedding at the same time?

All these questions I had begun asking myself for days. But as the drizzle began, I silently prayed that the rain would not deny me of a story.

THE BRIDE

From a beatific face in a bridal makeover that suited her face so perfectly to her gracefulness in the stylish wedding dress, this bride bore no semblance to the simple miss I got to know during JAMB Lesson.

We had hit it off quite fast probably because we had a couple of things in common, but largely because there was a catalyst that hastened our bonding – a common friend.

And like people who had known each other for a long time, the three of us became a balanced chemical equation-an inseparable trio.

In those days leading up to the exam that would eventually separate us, we painted the town black and white as we prepared for the almighty UME.

But that was a long time ago.

Even so, this bride will definitely count as one of my close girlfriends. After all we had managed to stay in touch over a space of nine years albeit with almost a five year gap somewhere in between; and she had specially informed me about her wedding months ahead through a text even though my only contribution was to grace the wedding in the aso-ebi which I got from her on credit.

Yeah! She would get a convenient spot on the list especially since I could count the total number of girlfriends I’ve had since childhood on the tip of my fingers.

But ask me to do the same for boyfriends, and I would have to include my toes as well.

Oddly though, for so long not one of these numerous boyfriends ever got beyond my full-size red signpost which read ‘RESTRICTED ACCESS, THREAD WITH CAUTION’

The rain had denied me of seeing my down to earth, affable chum walk toward the aisle, but looking at her as she walked down the aisle after the blessings, I caught a delightful smile at the angles of my heavily padded zygomatics.

I was proud of my friend; she had graduated as a medical doctor in record time and had just married a senior colleague who I knew so well.

Sometimes at weddings when I’m only familiar with either of the duo, I often wondered if the other person is all they appear to be. But for this groom also, I could write a two page recommendation letter.

THE GROOM

In my early pre-clinical days, the set ahead of my class were the fathers and mothers from whom we learnt wisdom even though they had only passed one exam in med school.

But they were all we had; the sets ahead of them had crossed over to Clinicals -the land of promise, our Canaan which we referred to with much awe and anticipation.

They told us many tales about the survival of the fittest phenomenon which operated in pre-clinicals; tales which sent shivers down our spine and sent us scuttling for every kind of assistance capable of seeing us through the red seas of Comprehensive and Part 1 MBBS.

It was during this time of ample apprehension; when I chose to seek spiritual assistance and fellowship among fellow Christian medical students, that I met this soft spoken, almost shy fellowship coordinator who had a low threshold for smiling.

Be it behind the pulpit, or before the chalkboard taking tutorials, he sure knew how to get his message across intelligently and humbly.

How then this amiable, promising young man hooked up with my jolly friend who was in a different medical school miles away must have been the handiwork of none other than the skillful matchmaker, who arranged the meet and gave them a story to tell.

For every couple the story is different, stories folded away neatly in favorite cerebral centers only to be retrieved on special occasions, when it is told to the admiration of all. I imagine the most magical of such stories would be Adam’s:

“I woke up one morning from an unusually subterranean sleep and she was there, right in front of me.

I knew she was another of God’s creations brought for me to name, but she was just like me, yet different!

I can’t say she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen because there was simply nothing to compare her with.

She was just stupefying! She took my breath away!

As I stood and approached her, there was a pain in my side but I couldn’t be bothered, my sensations were dulled by the rhapsodic beauty before me.

There was an inexplicable sparkle in her eyes, her face pristine, and her figure curvy and meticulously shaped.

I reached out to touch her face and I froze, transfixed by the feeling that travelled through my palm.

Beyond the softness of her skin, I felt shock-like exhilarating waves travel through every inch of my body and then gently, they converged at my side settling there, right where I had felt the pain, but it was gone!

The pain had melted away. Then it hit me: this creature was made for me, to soothe me, to complete me.

Snapping out of my blissful exposé, I grabbed her hand gently and said to her: you are my woman, the very bone of my side. I’m entranced by your beauty, and I’m in love with you. Then she smiled, and our world began”

to be continued…

Read concluding part here