I will start the celebration with the words of a famous Hausa singer, Dr. Mamman Shata Katsina, through whose words I always think of her.
He used the words to describe one of the numerous beautiful women he sang for during his lifetime, Indo Kyaftin, who happened to be my wife's namesake.
"Indo da lilin da wulen, don ita a ka yi, a kai atamfan nan mai kan sarki"
"Ashe leshi da dumask, don ita a ka yi, a kai kwaɗɗon gwal da agogo".
Briefly, Shata was saying that the best materials and jewelry money could buy that women used in those days to adorn themselves were specifically designed because of her.
I still remember the first time we met, more than 34 years ago: I was her teacher in secondary school, having started work a little over a year ago then, after the NYSC.
She escorted her friend and classmate, Amina Shata, to the staffroom to greet me. Incidentally, Amina is the daughter of Dr. Mamman Shata Katsina, the famous Hausa singer and we were family friends. She saw me as her elder brother and guardian in the school.
Ironically, my wife thought it was Amina I was interested in, even though she knew the connection between us. So she was taken aback when I indicated my interest in her.
And from then on, one thing led to another and in a little over a year after we first met, we got married after she had graduated from that school.
Just two days to my 23rd birthday, on October 13, 1984, with Lawal Dauda Mani, Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde, Shehu Ibrahim Bakori, Ali Hassan Waziri, Bashir Dan-gusau and my brother, Abdulrahman Abdulkadir, as my best men, we were pronounced husband and wife: I was 23 and she was 18!
I can't believe it's 34 years today!