A couple of weeks ago I saw a video that my childhood friend posted on Instagram.
I immediately began to sob.
I knew I had just one year to go through what she was going through.
It was a video of her son, walking away…into his new school (boarding school). He would be gone till December.
Accompanying the video was a little note; ” Wow, I wasn’t prepared enough for this emotionally. Life truly is in phases. My not so lil Dee Boi🥰🥰. I love you my child and I pray to God Almighty to shield, protect and shape you into greatness”.
Next September I will have to watch my boy walk away too.
A little over a decade ago, I worked for a private company in Lagos…for 3 years.
We didn’t get to take Christmas breaks… Especially not the finance unit… We worked till the 23rd.
I was lucky my first year there, I had been given a few days off so I went home for Christmas without any hassle.
The next year…I wasn’t so lucky.
I left for my hometown on the 24th day of December. Just a day before Christmas. Lagos is over 700 kilometers from my home town. It takes at least 12 hours to close that gap.
We had a couple of unplanned stops and so many bad roads on our way…and so by the time it was midnight… Now Christmas day, I found myself in a town, 109 kilometres from my hometown and a driver who wasn’t willing to go any further.
To be fair to the driver, he had been driving since 6am of the 24th and the road ahead was known to be dangerous at night.
Every passenger except myself somehow found their way to who-knows-where and I was left in the motor park where we had stopped…just me and a few other bus drivers.
I was offered a tiny room to wait in till sunrise. I was scared and unhappy but I didn’t have much of a choice.
I called my family and then my boyfriend…they were as worried as I was.
I brought out a magazine from my luggage and began to read…I hadn’t planned to close an eye lid that night.
At 2:05am my phone rang, it was my boyfriend. He wanted to know the location of the park.
He had driven to get me. He said couldn’t rest knowing I was alone somewhere in a strange place at night.
I was speehless.
He had taken a risk. A beautiful and romantic risk…and I don’t think I will ever forget.
Some years ago, I got my first male student at my bakery; Kator… He was very young and innocent.
He found himself in the midst of at least 10 ladies…
The mother in me became very protective and before long, everyone called him my son…even his own mother.
My son also called him ‘brother’; A couple of years ago he baked a surprise birthday cake by himself for Kator from start to finish.
One afternoon, I asked Sonter to go and get Kator for me and I over heard him say;
“My mom says you should come inside”
“Ah, Sonter, you always say our mom. Why the switch to ‘my mom’ today?” Kator asked.
Weeks after that conversation I found out Kator had upset him…
…and the pattern continued.
‘Our’ became ‘my’ whenever he wasn’t happy with him.
I didn’t stop him, I only told him he couldn’t go on in life that way…cutting people off just because you were upset with them. This year, SonTer sketched an image of Kator for his birthday.
I digress…
We’ve not seen much of him lately because he got into school for his MBBS.
This year, Kator sent me the most touching birthday message anyone has ever sent to me…ever.
