Her father’s profession scared me at first. He sells coffins

By BISI OLALEYE

The love story between George Feyita, a banker and Omobolanle, a make -up professional, marketing communication specialist in London and eldest daughter of Tunji Okusanya, MIC boss can only be described as that of Cinderella, who only had to lose a pair of slippers to win Prince Charming.

In his case, he didn’t pick a slipper but the contact he got through a friend was all he needed to get through to her. According to him, what began as mere friendship on phone led to the solemnization of marriage between them.

Wife
A mutual friend introduced us in June 2004. At the time she mentioned him, George was on holiday and the friend wanted me to check him out first and see if I liked him. For some reason, that never happened but after his return, he got in touch and we started talking, through SMS and e-mails on a daily basis.
We eventually met at a kind of blind date and our friendship deepened.

Before we physically met, I had thought George seemed an interesting character, but when we did meet, I wasn't sure if I was attracted to him. He never gave up though, and he always engaged my mind. For me, that was the key to my heart and I couldn't help falling for him and today, the rest is history.

Proposal
It was special and romantic... George booked a short break for us to Barcelona, he'd been talking about it casually for months and one day he just announced, 'we are going to Barcelona in a few weeks!'
I asked jokingly what the urgency was all about and whether it was because he was going to propose. He kept saying... "just kill the thought because I plan for my proposal to be a surprise''. So I thought ok, this is obviously not a surprise and he even went further to say that even if he wanted to do it, the fact that I had thought about it, it would no longer be a surprise and he wouldn't do it then.

When we got to Barcelona, we went sight seeing (I wanted to go shopping for shoes initially) instead we eventually got to the famous Park Guell. It was quite a romantic garden and all I was thinking was "let's finish here quickly, before shoe shops close!"

I later discovered that George was not in a rush to leave and we continued walking in the garden like other tourists. We eventually reached an area where a man was playing the violin with Jazz music, and he (George) likes jazz music as well as violin, so we stopped to listen to the guy play. It was quite romantic and we listened to this guy for like 30 minutes.

The moment
As soon as he started with Michael Bolton's track 'Everything I do, I do for you' I saw he went down on one knee and for one second I thought he was joking. I was surprised and realized later what was happening when I saw a box in his hands and I got on my knees immediately in shock. I could not believe what was happening.

And he popped the question, " Will you marry me?" I stayed there speechless for a couple of minutes and he kept repeating the question till I said yes!

Parental acceptance
This was a bit challenging... initially my mum did not want to hear anything, she had always wanted me to come home with a Kolade or Femi. When she heard George was from Delta State, her expression was Delta? It didn't help that he was from Warri, all she said was ‘Ko le possible’! (It can’t be possible). She was not keen on discussing it and I think she was hoping the relationship was not too serious though she had met George a few times. She said it was nothing personal with George but confessed that she didn't know any inter-ethnic marriages that have worked well, my father on the other hand, kept silent on the matter but within him, he supported mummy.

George called them fairly frequently and continued to, and they both gave him the impression that they didn’t have any issues with where he came from. This dragged on for a while but we kept praying about it and believed that with God, all things are possible.

I believe the Holy Spirit touched their hearts, and they accepted George. He is actually their new son now and they communicate with him all the time and have a fantastic relationship. His parents accepted me immediately they saw me and they had no issues with me coming from a different area, they are a warm and accommodating people.

Husband’s response
Attraction
I got attracted to Bolanle because we were able to connect as friends. I saw her more as a pal and we got on really well. She is a very simple girl and down to earth and for me, that is very important. She never let things get to her head and that made all the difference for me. This might sound absurd but as soon as I started chatting with Bolanle, I had a spiritual feeling she was the woman for me though we hadn't physically met.... There was something about her every time we spoke and with time it became clearer. She is indeed a blessing to me, very quick to let things pass even when she gets upset. She takes life easy and just takes things one day at a time.... I'm glad I found her because she makes all the difference in my world.

Initially, I was quite surprised, maybe shocked to know that her father is a funeral undertaker. I remember that I kept asking her "is that what he does full time?"But I got over it with time and it wasn’t so much of a challenge getting her to say yes to my proposal.