When Love CONQUERS ALL
When 32-year-old Victor Muhota and 29-year-old Mary Wangari recount their relationship’s journey, it dawns on them just how many times life had conspired to keep them apart. They narrate to ESTHER AKELLO how they finally reconnected and walked all the way down the aisle.
It is said the beauty of life is when one door closes, another one opens or at the very least, you get a window. Victor Muhota knows this only too well. Had he snoozed on his opportunity, he is quite sure, there would have been another Mrs Victor Muhota as opposed to Mary Wangari, whom he passionately describes as ‘his person’. His conviction is derived from the fact that at one point, he had pined for Mary for so long, but all the signs indicated they were never meant to be.
When the two first met as teenagers at their local church in Kijabe, they looked at each other in askance. Each found the other snobbish, but in his defense, Victor cheekily admits that he was a shy teenager who simply did not know how to talk to girls.
They both later joined the University of Nairobi, Victor in 2001 to study Mechanical Engineering and Mary in 2005 to study Graphic Design, where they would have an awkward conversation from time to time in a bid to catch up. Each was also in a relationship and while they both ended them in their final years, Mary’s had a more lasting outcome – her son, Joshua.
Despite still bumping into each other in church every once in a while, it would take them a solid three years before they would sit down for an actual conversation.
“In 2013, I opened my restaurant in Kijabe. Victor became one of my frequent customers. Soon enough, we got to talking and realised we had so much in common,” offers Mary.
But that was just the short of it. The long of it was just days after their first lengthy conversation, Victor was smitten and admitted as much to Mary through a text message, his personal rule against marrying a ‘local’ girl notwithstanding.
“It was like I had seen her anew. I loved her smile, how she and Joshua always walked together and her cooking did not hurt one bit,” quips Victor.
But things were not going to be that easy. Mary was in a relationship. Moreover, come December 2013, she quietly decided to close down the restaurant in preparation to moving to Kericho in search of newer experiences. Coincidentally, on her last day in Kijabe, Victor met her carrying suitcases to the bus stop only to realise she was moving towns.
As far as Victor was concerned, this was the last nail on the coffin. If there ever was the slightest chance that they were going to be together, it was moving to Kericho along with Mary. Coincidentally, right at the same time, luck smiled upon Victor who got a job in Kisumu. He would get his chance to see Mary after all, as he passed via Kericho whenever he travelled to Kisumu.
But while things seemed to be so simple, they proved to be just as hard. Each time he was in town, Mary would be in Kijabe. And when he called her, she would not pick his calls. In retrospect, Mary chuckles informing Victor that right about that time, her phone had technical difficulties and she was unable to pick all calls including his.
In August 2014, Mary moved back to Kijabe. Finally, Victor had his chance to reconnect with her but he admits he had slowly started giving up on the idea of them becoming an item. Mary on the other hand, encountered an epiphany.
“I knew that was the right time to enter a relationship with Victor. We were in sync about what we wanted and our outlooks in life and Victor enjoyed a good bond with my son, which was key for me,” says Mary.
And as Victor puts it, once Mary admitted the same to him, he vowed never to let go again. In September, they entered into courtship and a month later, in a most sincere moment, during a romantic getaway in Naivasha, without the pomp, colour and fanfare that come with most modern day proposals, they affirmed their commitment and expectations to each other in what they sum as their vows cum joint proposal.
In April 11, 2015 and with a budget of Ksh 200, 000, the two solemnised their relationship in a dream wedding in front of 500 guests at AIC Kijabe, followed by a picturesque picnic themed reception at the same venue.
PUBLISHED MAY 2015
