In 1982, My father was on a bus when a young lady in a nurse's uniform got on board. When the bus came to a stop, he walked up to her seat & put a 50ngwee coin in her hand & told her he would find her.
My mom told me that she didn't pay him much attention that day on the bus because he looked old and rugged. At that time my dad had lost his job and didn't have much. He had defaulted on a loan and the bank had seized most of his property. and the toils of this life had worn him down. My mom was scared when this strange dirty looking man put a coin in her hand that she didn't say a word to him.
🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿🌼🌿My dad knew he would find her because there was only one clinic in the area at that time and so he figured she must work there.
So the next day he went to the clinic to look for her. He did not know her name and So he went to the sister in charge and described her. The sister in charge was so kind that she took my dad round the clinic to meet all the nurses she had on duty that day hoping he would recognize her but alas she was not among those on duty that day.
After further description of her, the sister in charge concluded that the woman he was seeking was a young nurse by the name of Elizabeth and that she would be on duty the following day.
My dad bid her goodbye with the promise that he would return the following day.
True to his word...the following day, my dad took the 2 hour walk from his farm to the clinic to find his mystery nurse.
The moment my mom got to the clinic, the sister in charge told her of the man who was looking for her, from the description of the man, my mom knew it was the man from the bus who had given her the coin.
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Around noon my dad reached the clinic, when my mom saw him coming, she was so embarrassed because of his appearance so she hid under a hospital bed. They looked for her but couldn't find her.
My dad chatted with the sister in charge for a few minutes then left.
He went to the clinic the following day & caught her unaware, he introduced himself to her and spoke to her for some time, told her about himself & his interest in her.
she recalls how he wore the same pair of black canvas shoes that had a hole in them that allowed his pinkie toe to protrude. My mom was so embarrassed, she couldn't wait for him to leave.
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He kept on going to see her, sometimes she would tell her friends to lie to my dad that she wasn't around and he would go back. But sometimes he would find her unexpectedly and she would talk to him briefly and then make up an excuse to make him leave.
My dad followed her to the clinic for sometime and then he stopped. He saw she wasn't interested because of the cold shoulder she would give him and he knew the friends where lying when they said she wasn't there. So he stayed away.
A week passed without him going there, and that started bothering my mom...she would stand outside the clinic looking at the long dusty road hoping to see him coming but he never did...all of a sudden, his old canvas shoes with a hole in them he wore each time he went there with the protruding pinkie toe didn't embarrass her no more...She realised she missed him.
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One day she decided to go to the sister in charge, she saw them chatting a number of times after she would blow him off and so she hoped she could help her find him.
The sister in charge who was alot older than my mom, sat her down and told her not to judge people by their outward appearances...she told my mom that she felt my dad was a good man who had just fallen on some tough times and that she should get to know him.
One day as my mom was seated with other nurses in the nurse's station, she saw a lone figure coming up the long dusty road, it was my dad...oh she jumped up and ran to meet him at the road. She was so happy to see him.
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They spent the afternoon together and my mom told me how happy she was. He wore the same old worn out canvas shoes that had a hole, but that day she was seeing him through the eyes of love...she saw a man who she felt could love her better than the other men who had let her down before.
When he left, the sister in charge sat my mom down and told her about the proverbs 31 woman from the bible. She told her not to look at what he didn't have, but to concentrate on what was there & build from that. She told her that all my dad had was an old house on a farm but if she was wise, that was enough to sustain them. She told her to ask God for wisdom to use that land to be a blessing in his life".
My parents had a traditional marriage shortly after.
On her days off, my mom made a vegetable garden. She would carry the vegetables she grew with her to work at the clinic and people would buy. Her garden grew that she hired farm workers, with the profit she built small houses on the land and put them on rent.
By the time I was 18, my mom had built 23 two roomed flats on our farm and had tenants. My mom bought cattle and would supply milk to people.
My mom's exploits motivated my dad to also start farming. He started growing and supplying strawberries to supermarkets. My mom got early retirement from nursing to concentrate on farming, she would supply maize to National mealing and vegetables to shoprite. Together they worked and grew. It was rare to find my mom without my dad nearby.
I saw my parents working together and at the end of the day, I saw them praying together.
In 2014 When my dad died, my mom asked me to write a tribute from her for his funeral, she told me that she was grateful he didn't give up on her...& that he decided to go back to the clinic one last time.
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Many people will encounter true love at least once in their lifetime, but many will miss it or already missed it because the love God sent their way did not come in the packaging they wanted.
Vanity & unrealistic expectations has made many people overlook the person who would have made their stay here on this earth a pleasant one.
They chose to love the wrong person because he or she had the right body, the right job, drove the right car or wore the right clothes & walked passed a love that was truly true just because it did not come in the "right" packaging.
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My mom almost missed the love of her life because he didn't come in the right packaging...she was embarrassed of his appearance & financial situation & was scared what her family & friends would say.
But thank God for that sister in charge.
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The charm of beauty & the pride of life are often the fortress of loneliness & great sadness.
If u r ever given a choice....please choose someone who brings peace to your life rather than someone who excites you.
Leave your comments on the comments section.
From the Master Story Teller
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