My friend Stella (no, it’s not her real name) got married on Saturday and I was one of the bride’s maids, yet again. I’m not complaining oh! I had a great deal of fun. Besides, someone once said, when people around you get blessed, it’s evidence that God is in your neighborhood and might knock on your door soon. This sage didn’t tell me how long it will take for God to get to me though, so I’d just be patient and keep busy by shopping around for a gorgeous wedding gown.
Speaking of gowns, some days before the wedding my BF and I were talking about wedding disasters and wondering what things could possibly go wrong on a wedding day asides d cliché abandonment at the altar. I joked about someone stumbling into the wedding cake or someone mistakenly stepping on and tearing the Bride’s train. Of course we dint mean that any of these would happen to Stella, but something did happen; something that did not cross my mind as we joked around. Stella’s wedding dress did not fit! No, it was not too big (that would have been manageable) it was too tight! In the months between the time Stella bought her dress and the wedding day, my friend gained some weight. I’d never know how she did it because I was of the opinion that the stress of planning a wedding was a tried and trusted weight-lose regiment. So I was really thrown off balance when we tried to Lace Stella up and the sides of her gown refused to meet.
The faithfulness of God prevailed; we managed to get and keep her in the dress. Her wedding was wonderful. I have never seen a bride dance as Stella did. Now she has me afraid for myself because she’d always be a reference point that I’d never be able to match. But who knows, maybe that kind of joy comes with the anointing to dance like Stella and David (the one in the bible, not her husband). Whether I wiggle like a salted worm or stump around like a Zulu warrior, what really matters is that the wedding day be the beginning of many happy and fruitful days. That’s my prayer for Stella. If you’re reading this Stella, congrats once again. We are mighty proud of you. A-Town!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
HERO
I’ve always heard tales of people being swept away by fiery tides on our Nigerian beaches but I never dreamed that I’d ever experience or witness it firsthand- and I’ve had my fair portion of nightmares. This nightmare material crawled out of someone’s dark dreams and landed squarely before me on Friday, November 27th 2009 at The Kuramo Beach.
The day at the beach started out pretty regular with the gathering of everything edible in my party’s path. On arriving at the waterfront, we picked the cleanest patch of sand to sit and devour our booty while we debated whether or not to venture into the water. Hardly had we sat to our first conquest of suya when we noticed commotion nearby. Following the pointing fingers and stares of the crowd, we discovered the cause of the commotion; someone was being swept away by the beach water. My first thought was that it was probably one of those show-offs at the beach, who had come to make me feel bad about not learning to swim earlier in life. This misconception was quickly corrected by a few seconds of watching whoever it was trash desperately in the water. As the horror of the situation dawned on me, I saw a guy dash past with a floater and dive into the water after the guy in the distance.
With our jaws slack, we watched as Mr. Life Guard (I think) struggled to reach Mr. Swept-Away and heaved a unified sigh when he eventually managed to throw the floater around him and steered him safely to shore. I hate to exaggerate situations so I told myself it must have been a minor accident. That was until the rescuer dragged an unconscious young man of about 20 years unto the sand.
I was horrified. I just cannot lie about that. I kept pondering how the slightest adjustments in Fate could have placed me in the shoes of the unconscious young man; after all my best underwater technique is a short glide which wouldn’t save me if I were drowning in a bathtub. I tried to imagine the terror that must have gripped the guy and just couldn’t. Of all ways to die, I guess drowning couldn’t have been anywhere on his list. Scratch that… he couldn’t have planned to die at all! And then for this to happen out of the blues! I wondered what his thoughts were as he struggled in the water in vain… “Lord, help me!” “Lord, forgive my many many sins!” or “Oh, my poor Mother!”.
Word got around much later that the young man lived with his mother and had come to the beach without her knowledge and just that caused a fresh wave of goose pimples to break out on my skin as I imagined the agony she would have suffered as she wondered what had happened to her son, never mind a man on the scene who thought the mother was somehow to blame for the boy’s near fatal accident.
As soon as Swept-Away gained consciousness and was deemed to be in no obvious danger, the rescuers and gapers alike asked “How did it happen?” The truth was far from all the stories I had told myself. It was an inglorious tale. A lady (who was nowhere to be found afterwards) has lost her slipper to the waters and he tried to retrieve it. Unbelievable but 100% true! This young man had almost lost his life playing Hero! A hero emerged at the end of the day, but it wasn’t him. The Hero was the man who had swam after him and dragged him back to shore despite his disability. Oh I forget to mention that. The man who rescued Swept-Away was missing at least two fingers on his left hand? Yes he was!
When Swept-Away came to, his first words were… wait for it…wait for it… “Where is the slipper?” I thought he deserved a sound slap.
The day at the beach started out pretty regular with the gathering of everything edible in my party’s path. On arriving at the waterfront, we picked the cleanest patch of sand to sit and devour our booty while we debated whether or not to venture into the water. Hardly had we sat to our first conquest of suya when we noticed commotion nearby. Following the pointing fingers and stares of the crowd, we discovered the cause of the commotion; someone was being swept away by the beach water. My first thought was that it was probably one of those show-offs at the beach, who had come to make me feel bad about not learning to swim earlier in life. This misconception was quickly corrected by a few seconds of watching whoever it was trash desperately in the water. As the horror of the situation dawned on me, I saw a guy dash past with a floater and dive into the water after the guy in the distance.
With our jaws slack, we watched as Mr. Life Guard (I think) struggled to reach Mr. Swept-Away and heaved a unified sigh when he eventually managed to throw the floater around him and steered him safely to shore. I hate to exaggerate situations so I told myself it must have been a minor accident. That was until the rescuer dragged an unconscious young man of about 20 years unto the sand.
I was horrified. I just cannot lie about that. I kept pondering how the slightest adjustments in Fate could have placed me in the shoes of the unconscious young man; after all my best underwater technique is a short glide which wouldn’t save me if I were drowning in a bathtub. I tried to imagine the terror that must have gripped the guy and just couldn’t. Of all ways to die, I guess drowning couldn’t have been anywhere on his list. Scratch that… he couldn’t have planned to die at all! And then for this to happen out of the blues! I wondered what his thoughts were as he struggled in the water in vain… “Lord, help me!” “Lord, forgive my many many sins!” or “Oh, my poor Mother!”.
Word got around much later that the young man lived with his mother and had come to the beach without her knowledge and just that caused a fresh wave of goose pimples to break out on my skin as I imagined the agony she would have suffered as she wondered what had happened to her son, never mind a man on the scene who thought the mother was somehow to blame for the boy’s near fatal accident.
As soon as Swept-Away gained consciousness and was deemed to be in no obvious danger, the rescuers and gapers alike asked “How did it happen?” The truth was far from all the stories I had told myself. It was an inglorious tale. A lady (who was nowhere to be found afterwards) has lost her slipper to the waters and he tried to retrieve it. Unbelievable but 100% true! This young man had almost lost his life playing Hero! A hero emerged at the end of the day, but it wasn’t him. The Hero was the man who had swam after him and dragged him back to shore despite his disability. Oh I forget to mention that. The man who rescued Swept-Away was missing at least two fingers on his left hand? Yes he was!
When Swept-Away came to, his first words were… wait for it…wait for it… “Where is the slipper?” I thought he deserved a sound slap.
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