How We Met Day 5: When the Time is Right

It's Day 5 of the How We Met series! These stories have been heart-warming, encouraging, and reassuring. I hope they are awakening the possibilities in your mind about how and when love can happen.

Today stories highlight the importance of timing and how different it can be for everyone's love story.


Here's A.A.'s story:

NYSC Batch C 2008 was an interesting period. I made new friends, some of which I am very close to till date. The most important friend in that mix ended up being my wife and mother of our beautiful daughter.

I met M.O. through Bisade on one of those nights at "mammy market". Being ex-high school mates, they all had a common hangout spot where they met. I remember I was a bit tipsy that night but sane enough to notice this cute, nerdy-looking girl sitting across the table. I asked for her name and we got talking. FYI, I love nerdy-looking girls with intellect.  

After that episode, we never saw again until one of my visits to the NYSC office.We exchanged numbers and went out on a date once. I liked her then but for an NYSC Corper on meager salary and a shaky career, I felt a relationship at that point in my life wasn't a priority. I painfully had to let go to stay focused.

We kept in touch though through game nights,charity work, etc. Two girlfriends later plus "Lagos Big Boy Status" confirmed (lol), I found out she was still single so I made my move. 

We started dating officially on January 1, 2013 (my birthday).We got married September 20, 2014. Our baby girl arrived on November 21, 2016!

~ A.A.


Here's Idia's story:

My husband, Osahon, was good friends with my older sister and our cousin, Osasuyi, so I sort of knew him growing up. We met again as adults in 2003 when Osasuyi’s sister, Efe, was getting married in Benin City, where Osahon lived at the time. So when everyone came from Lagos to Benin for the wedding he was the one friend who knew his way around town. 

On our first night in town, Osasuyi and Osahon took my sister and me out partying. Osahon and I danced all night during which time the chemistry was hard to deny. For the next two days, Osahon essentially hosted the entire cohort of young people who came for the wedding in his home. He gave up his own bedroom for the girls while he and the guys crashed in the living room. He was a complete gentleman throughout but we parted knowing that we’d made a special connection with each other. 

Over the following two weeks, before Efe’s Church wedding, Osahon and I spoke everyday for hours. On the night before he arrived in Lagos for the wedding he announced over the phone that he had a really important question to ask me. Of course I had a good idea what it was but that didn’t dull the suspense or my thrill at the prospect. True enough, on the night he arrived in Lagos, he asked me to marry him and I had no doubts when I said yes. Two years later we were married!

Two weeks! Yes, it may sound impulsive but I just felt an assurance in my heart. He was well known to members of my family. My Aunt, who is one of the most loving and wisest people I’ve ever known had called me in Benin to tell me that she considered Osahon her son and encouraged me to ‘give him face’ so to speak. My uncle, who generally ‘doesn’t put mouth’ in such matters gave Osahon his stamp of approval after meeting him a couple of times and has never regretted it. My sister, who has been friends with him since high school assured me that Osahon was a stand-up guy. Most importantly, they were only confirming what I had seen with my own eyes and felt in my heart.

Now after over ten years of marriage, I realize that we were both very much diamonds in the rough. God had lots of work to do on each of us through the other. He’s still working. Our marriage has grown more loving and Christ-like over the years and I’m so grateful to God for bringing Osahon and I together exactly when He did, otherwise our lives would probably have taken very different turns. I can still say confidently that we made the right decision in choosing each other. Even we didn’t know how right we would turn out to be!

~ Idia


The moral of these stories...Sometimes the only reason why you haven't found love is because it's not time yet. Maybe you're not ready for that chapter just yet and you need to spend more time on becoming a better version of yourself. And for others, when it happens, things may go much quicker than you would have imagined. At the end of the day, listen to your gut and God to figure out when the time is right and when it is, every thing will fall into place. Remember, "you can't hurry love...you gotta trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes."