It's been twenty-five years since the journey began and we felt that it should be celebrated at the point where it all started.
I brought out the family album and I was taking a look at the pictures snapped in the early days of our relationship.
"Dear, hope you've sent an invitation to Dr Pat?" I heard my wife ask as she walked into the room.
"What a coincidence! I am with his picture here. The celebration won't serve its full purpose if Dr Pat isn't with us at the beach. The beach is significant in reflecting on the memory of our journey and Dr Pat was equally an important factor that came in to help kickstart the love journey. Let me send him a message right now." I immediately crafted an invitation letter and sent it to his electronic mail address.
Dr Pat called me immediately to register his willingness to accept the invitation.
A month later, we set out to the beach for the all important day. A few family members were invited to join us in the celebration.
We arrived at the beach and the sight of a big tree at the shore brought back a fond memory of how the journey started.
I was a regular visitor to the beach during my bachelorhood. I worked in the bank with a very tight weekday schedule. I virtually made it a ritual to be visiting the beach in order to relax and meet with nature every weekend.
Dr Pat was a man in his fifties who I always came across in the beach. Dr Pat was fair and almost pale white. His modesty and humility is flaunted with his smiles that often reached to his eyes and brings out wrinkles. He had a spade shaped beard and a pencil thin mustache. He was a lively soul who approached everyone he came across on the beach with cosmic smiles. He was always with his wife and they possessed an irresistible charm and affections.
For some weeks, I didn't see Dr Pat and his wife. I was disturbed and wished I could reach out to know if they were fine but I didn't have their contacts.
After some weeks, Dr Pat reappeared alone at the beach. He was quietly sitting down under a tree at the coast. I saw him from far away and I ran to him. I met a tearstained face and when I greeted the usual jovial Dr Pat, gnawing grief was evident in him. He was the shadow of his former self. I took my seat beside him and initiated a conversation.
"Dr. It's obvious that you are not happy. Do you care to share your challenges with me?" I asked.
He was trying to gather words to reply to me when I followed up with another question.
"Where is mummy?" I do refer to his wife as mummy.
"My wife is gone." He replied.
"What happened?"
"She was returning from work and had an accident. She spent days in the intensive care unit but couldn't make it." He fought back tears as he narrated the unfortunate incident to me.
"I know how painful this is. I pray that God comforts you and gives you the fortitude to bear the loss." I was trying in my own way to comfort him when Juliet walked past the sitting position. I had wanted to see her for weeks but she hadn't been coming to the beach.
"Juliet." I called her.
She looked back without response.
"Who is that girl?" Dr Pat asked.
"I asked her out to be my fiancee. I have been talking to her for months but she seems undecided about agreeing to my request. She once told me that she deserves a richer husband." I explained.
Dr Pat stood up and called Juliet in a loud voice. I was surprised and at the same time wondered what the grieving Dr was up to. After confirming that it was the much respected Dr that called her, she turned back and walked up to us.
Dr Pat hid his sorrow and he talked to Juliet.
"My daughter In-law." He began while Juliet turned her face away in disapproval of the title. "My son told me that you are skeptical in accepting him as a potential husband because of his economic status. I just want to give you a piece of advice. If you love every other qualities of him apart from his financial strength, I advise you to give him a chance and see his level of ambitiousness. I am not in a good mood to share with you some stories. However it seems I know John better than you do. Get close to him and know him even to the extent that I do, you will find every reason to give him a chance."
I was shocked that Dr Pat could summon the strength to talk to Juliet despite his situation.
After a few minutes, Dr Pat stood up to depart the beach.
"I have come to bid my wife farewell. I met her here and I have come to pray for her soul in this venue that we mutually adored." He left us and went to his car and drove off.
That conversation was what broke the camel's back. Juliet gave me a chance to prove my love for her.
"You never told me that Dr is your father."
"Dr Pat is not my biological father but the little he knew about me has endeared me to him and he graciously took me as his son."
My story turned around for the better and we got married a year later.
I had my hands in my pockets, looking at the cloudy sky over the sea when my wife screamed my name to announce the arrival of Dr Pat. His beards are now goatee and it fits him. He has winter white hair. Now in his seventies, his handsomeness still reflects his younger self.
His arrival marked the beginning of the celebration. Dr Pat sat on the concrete chair on which he sat twenty-six years ago to convince Juliet to marry me. He stood up to declare the celebration open with words of prayers and a little visit to memory lane about how the journey started.
My wife took her time to appreciate the old man for the role that he played, in such a difficult time of his life, to kickstart the journey that is being celebrated.
On behalf of the family, my wife presented a car gift to Dr Pat.
"I believe that the day that I talked to you, you never believed prior to that point that John could be successful to the point of buying this luxury car for himself not to talk of gifting someone else. I thank you for heeding my advice of going close to him to look at his dreams and ambitions." Dr Pat reflected on the journey once again while he appreciated the gift.
My wife was beaming with smiles throughout the occasion.
We ate, drank and had fun before departing the beach as a fulfilled couple.