Owooooobiiiiiii…I screamed… And immediately a man with a woman and son came to a halt, Owobi tripped and almost fell on a stack of boxes…we were right in the middle of a market square. I walked to meet them. I apologized to the woman for screaming her husband’s name that loud, we laughed about it. I was just excited to see him. He was my classmate from primary school. We graduated thirty years ago…and yes I’ve seen him a few times since then but it always feels good to see a primary school mate. He goes by Andrew now. It’s a good name but my brain knows only one. Owobi.
I’ve had to talk with my dad a lot in the last two weeks because we have been doing some arrangements for a funeral…My close relative lost his wife. Each time my dad and I spoke, we would be talking about the same person (my relative) but he would call him Vembe and I would say Shima. Shima is his first name and Vembe is the last. All of a sudden, I’m just finding out, my dad switched at some point and I didn’t know, for him, Shima is now Vembe. Maybe because he’s a man now and no longer a boy…I’m guessing. He’ll always be Shima in my head.
Another one… He was always Uncle James to us…my siblings and I, and even my mom. Over a period of twenty four years, he has held so many offices and I watch how everyone calls him by some new way every few years. Sometimes I even try too, to call him by the current name (title) per season but it just won’t flow. To me he will always be Uncle James.
My brain obviously doesn’t do too well with name changing.
