Letter from a Head wife to her co wives

 

When I first met Akin, he had nothing to his name.

Nothing.

Just an old coat that had long surrendered its color, a worn-out pair of shoes with weary soles, and a vision so outrageously ambitious that people laughed whenever he spoke of it. They mocked his dreams as though they were fairy tales, and every conversation about his future ended with chuckles and shaking heads.

He had no father to guide him.

His widowed mother struggled to keep food on the table and had little left to offer beyond prayers and hope. He still lived in his parents' house, carrying dreams that seemed far too heavy for the fragile shoulders of a young man with empty pockets.

He wasn't the most eloquent man in the room.

Neither was he the most handsome.

Yet there was something about him that refused to let me look away.

Beneath the uncertainty, I saw fire.

Beneath the poverty, I saw purpose.

Beneath the ridicule, I saw a man who believed in a future no one else could see.

And against every warning, every raised eyebrow, every voice that called me foolish...

I chose him.

I rebelled against the expectations of my family.

I walked away from opportunities that could have secured my own future.

I silenced every fear within me and tied my destiny to a man who possessed little more than hope.

People said I was making the greatest mistake of my life.

Love convinced me I was making the greatest decision.

Our wedding reflected our reality.

It was simple.

Painfully simple.

No extravagant decorations, no luxurious reception, no glamorous honeymoon.

Just two young hearts making promises they sincerely believed they would keep.

Our first home was scarcely worthy of being called one. The walls were cracked,

the roof leaked whenever the rains came.

The nights were often accompanied by hunger, mosquitoes, and prayers whispered into the darkness.

Still...

I smiled.

Every inconvenience became another sacrifice laid upon the altar of love.

Whenever life became difficult, I whispered the same words to myself:

"Things will get better."

And I believed them. Not because I had proof, but because I believed in him.

I stood beside him through every rejection, every failed business idea, every

 disappointment.

When everyone else questioned his dreams, I defended them.

When he doubted himself, I reminded him who he could become.

When he grew weary, I became his strength. If he stumbled, I carried hope for both of us.

Little by little, the impossible began to happen.

Doors that had once remained firmly shut slowly opened.

The same people who once laughed at his vision began to applaud his progress.

Opportunity found him.

Success embraced him.

And the dreams that had once gathered dust slowly turned into gold.

People admired the successful man they saw.

Only I remembered the broken young man he used to be.

Sometimes I ask myself...

Was there anything I did not sacrifice for this man?

I worked tirelessly—not only to support our home but to support his ambitions.

Many nights, I buried my own dreams so his could stay alive.

I stretched myself beyond exhaustion.

I poured into him until I scarcely recognized the woman I had once been.

Then came our first child. The pregnancy was difficult, the delivery was even harder.

There were moments when the doctors feared I would not survive.

Yet the first thing I thought of was not my pain.

It was his joy as he held our child.

Time passed.

Then came the second child.

And later...

The third.

Not because my body was eager.

Not because my strength was endless.

But because whispers had begun to circle around me.

"If she cannot give him a son, he will marry another woman."

Those words haunted my sleep.

They followed me into every pregnancy.

They turned every labor room into a battlefield.

Three times I laid my life upon the altar.

Three times I looked death in the face.

Three times I prayed that my sacrifice would finally be enough.

I believed that if I gave him everything...

He would never need anyone else.

How little I understood the heart of a man who was searching for something no woman

could ever give him. 

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