It all started in May 2018 when I began to receive a lot of friend requests on Facebook at an alarming rate. I could receive approximately eighty requests in a day. At some point, I became concerned. I even scrutinized my account to make sure that I had not been hacked. It was through these friend requests that I met Betty. Shortly after I accepted her request, we started chatting. The next thing I realized was we had exchanged numbers and started chatting on WhatsApp. 

Betty was a good person but as some people would say, the chemistry was not there. I didn’t want it to seem I couldn’t feel connected to her because we met on Facebook, so I held on and tried to make something out of the nothing I felt for her, but it didn’t work out. I could tell that she wanted us to be more than friends, and if feelings could be forced, I would force myself to feel something for her. She tried to get us to meet in person but I wasn’t interested so I never met her. After a while, I stopped answering her calls, and that ended whatever we had brewing between us.  

Just around that time, I received a friend request from Akua. The moment I accepted her friend she sent me a “Hi”. Everything began with that simple message. I replied to her message and that started a whole conversation. We chatted for hours nonstop. Unlike Betty, I could feel the chemistry with Akua. Her maturity was what drew me to keep talking to her. Every time I asked her a question, she would answer in a way that would provoke me to think deeply about whatever we were talking about. 

Soon enough, we moved the conversation from Facebook messenger to WhatsApp and then started making phone calls to each other. She was home at the time, after her rotation as a midwife in Ada ended, and was waiting to be posted. All those times I spent talking to her filled my heart with so much joy that I started thinking, “There are beautiful here on Facebook if only you open your mind and your heart to meet them.”  

On 1st June 2018, Akua and I met for the first time. We met in Accra when she came for a job interview. After the interview, she had to return home, to one of the villages in Kumawu. I told her, “Let me see you off to at least Kumasi.” She didn’t understand why I would go all the way with her to Kumasi just to see her off. What she didn’t know was that I had fallen hopelessly in love with her, especially after seeing her in person. If I had my way then, she wouldn’t return to Kumawu, but I didn’t have a say in the matter. So I settled for the next best thing, convincing her to let me see her off. “I promise it’s not a bother. If anything, it will give me the opportunity to spend more time with you.”  

She eagerly agreed and I could feel her excitement as she held my hand from Accra to Kumasi on a VIP bus. In fact, her excitement caught the attention of one gentleman seated in the aisle across ours. The guy looked in our direction and laughed throughout the journey. I didn’t know what he was thinking but I imagined it would be along the lines of, “See, how annoying they are being in this vehicle.”  

I wasn’t particularly happy when we made it to Kumasi, because it meant we would be parting ways. However, I seized the opportunity to propose, “I love you, you know I do. And I know you love me too. I also know that I haven’t officially asked you to be my girlfriend, even though I act like I am your boyfriend. The reason is that I am not interested in being your boyfriend. What I want is to be your husband if you will let me.” Her face exploded in smiles as she nodded and said “Yes, I thought you would never ask.”  

The year after my proposal, we started planning our wedding. We felt there was no point in dragging things out so the earlier the better. You know how it is when you meet the right person. Everything points to them and you just get this itch to hurry up and make them yours forever. I had only known her for a year, but I was very confident that she was the one. The interesting thing was that before I met Akua, I had planned that I would get married in the year 2020. I even dubbed the plan ‘vision 2020’. However, when Akua came into the picture my plans changed, and I don’t regret it even for a second.  

READ MORE: The Art Of Staying Married When You’ve Been Childless For Over Five Years

We got married in November 2019 and all I can say is, it has indeed been a wonderful journey. Akua has positively changed a lot of things in my life, and I am thankful that I met her. She is a very beautiful soul, intelligent, understanding, easygoing, and above all, a God-fearing woman. She is everything I asked God for in a wife and so much more. We have done almost three years into our marriage journey and we have been blessed with a very handsome boy.  

All I want to say to friends who are yet to get hitched is, all hope is not lost. The beautiful people you see on the streets are the same people on Facebook, so give it a shot. Who knows? It might work out, and you would share your happy story here like I am. And oh, it turned out my profile picture did the trick so take another look at yours. 

AG, my love, I love you so much and I know we have so many beautiful years ahead of us, and surely, God will take us through our forever. 

— Manuel

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