Life's Little Moments of Joy

I try every now and then to leave my house and have some fun, but then, fun is relative. To me, fun can be curling under the printed wrapper my mother gave to me on the first day of school, watching a series I was totally head over heels for. On some other days, fun could mean sitting at the edge of a pool, getting splashed by those who could do strokes in the water.

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In January, I was at the pool with my entire family. Usually during family get-togethers someone was always not around, but the one we held last year, it was just special. Everyone made an effort to be there.

It was my first time being in a pool, I had gone to pools on other days, once with my girls and once with my younger sister, Princess, when she came visiting from her school in Aba. On those two occasions, I cheered the other people with me and encouraged them to go into the water but I didn't even take off my clothes, not to talk of going in with them. In those cases, I ended up being the camerawoman.

In January when I went with my family, my mom took my place as camerawoman. She asked me to join the others in the pool and have some fun. Afterall according to her, I was young and needed to have all the fun there was.

I used to be ashamed about not being able to swim but I learned that it wasn't really about the swimming, it was about wading in the water and allowing the water to do its magic on you. Being in a large body of water had something it did to you, It was therapeutic.

Since I went back to school after that first week, I couldn't go out to have so much more fun. I had to get serious and focus on school and my work.

In February, since it was valentine's season, I had offers to go to so many places but I couldn't trade going out with my boyfriend for going out with any other person.

We had initially planned to do the unconventional Netflix and chill on valentine's day and we did, in the morning. Towards afternoon, he asked me to get prepared in casual clothes because he wanted us to step out. I knew my boyfriend, when he meant casual, he meant come out presentably so I fell back to my shorts and big t-shirts. He took one look at me and shook his head. I was never going to change.

We first headed over to a spa where my face was thoroughly scrubbed and prepped for the mask. By the time the mask was applied on my face, I was experiencing a hot and uncomfortable feeling. I knew I shouldn't complain, I was the one who had been all about visiting the spa. That was my first time and since he had arranged it, it felt special despite the discomfort.

By the time the mask was peeled off my face, the acnes I had were twice their initial size but since I was assured that it would reduce soon, I felt better about my face already.

True to their words before I arrived home, the acne was barely visible. This was before I began my skin care journey.

I was already exhausted from all the turning and scrubbing on my face but he wasn't done with me yet. He drove straight to a lounge called ‘Big V lounge’. It was also my first time ever at a lounge.

In March, during my boyfriend's birthday, we went together to the orphanage. That was the most beautiful experience I ever had. The excitement on those children's faces, I thought they were going to be sad and hungry looking but instead, they were excited and well mannered. With zero shame!

They walked up to me to introduce themselves one after the other when we were about leaving. One of them even whispered to me that she would pray for God to give my husband and I children. Whoever told them I was married? Or looking for children? I found the entire experience amusing. It remains one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

April threatened to be boring, not until one of my girls held up a ticket receipt.

“We're going to Chop n’ chill!” She yelped excitedly.

Of course I had heard of chop n’ chill but since it wasn't in my build up to go for events like that, I didn't even look at the flier twice. The first challenge was that I didn't have what to wear for such an event. I used to have 2 lovely dresses but since they were quite skimpy, I couldn't bring myself to wear them so two of my girls took them, and I didn't mind.

“Don't worry, we'll work something out” she winked at me. By ‘work something out’, I knew how wild my friends could be so instead of completely putting my trust in them, I planned my usual baggy jeans but with a free crop top and a bucket hat this time.

Even they couldn't say no.

Unfortunately, that was where my fun ended. The month of May was almost toxic for me, it was like I was passing through the valley of the shadow of death that month, so I channeled all my energy into sorting my life out.

I'm looking forward to attending an event, Games and Vibes, being organized by the director of socials of my department who happens to be a good acquaintance of mine, especially since I would have an executive seat as the chairman of the Editorial board.

Maybe June would be my month of redemption.