THE JOYS OF FRIENDSHIP!!!!

My world has been much richer because of my friends and the post below is dedicated to my first and best friend.

My first friend is someone who I came into the world with. I shared the same room with her nine months before I was born and grew up sharing my first few rooms on earth with her. We have gone through a lifetime of experiences together. The stories of our early years are not amongst my earliest memories but they are tales that have been recounted over and over again. We were said to have our own special language which no one but ourselves understood and it was with mock horror that I was observed to speak to her in our language and she would go and get my shoes for me or pick up our toys while I stood by watching! I was some friend wasn't I?

Later our friendship proceeded to the fighting stage, we fought over books, household chores, clothes ('that is my dress, no its mine' how could we know for sure since we had exactly the same set of clothes).I can still remember mummy shouting at us after we had exchanged blows with our puny fists that someday she would drop us in front of the Sheraton Hotel so our pugilistic skills would be on display for all and sundry! She never made good on her threats and I guess she knew we would outgrow it. I still remember our whispered sorries after we went to bed and waking up the next day as firm friends until another quarrel ensued. Our physical fights stopped finally when we went to different secondary schools.

I remember the times when we locked ourselves in the toilets and sat on the toilet bowls reading books which we found enchanting and when mummy called we shouted out that we were on the toilet even though out trousers were snug around our waists! We did not tell a lie we were really on the toilet though we were not using it was our reasoning.

I remember the games we played in the long corridor that looked to us like it was a 100metres long- Filling the basket, 100metre dash, skipping, our attempts at cooking which almost always ended up as burnt offerings because we cooked and read or forgot we had put some food on the gas:) I remember our attempts at a book club where we succeeded in losing most of our books? I remember the sour tangerines we peeled and ate from the unfruitful tree, thankfully we never ended up with tummy aches.

As we grew up we became confidants in each other making a wider circle of friends because we attended different secondary schools. I still remember the daily letters we wrote to each other (mummy spent a lot in keeping us stocked with envelopes,stamps and writing sheets). My classmates knew I always had a letter from you almost every day! University was no different though we no longer wrote every day I could be sure that anyone coming to Ibadan from Ife would have a letter from you for me even if you had to scribble it on any piece of paper you could find. No GSM then.

I remember so many times after school, your service in Sabon Birnin when letters from you were a rarity. I remember the many times when we were at home together and daddy always commented that he knew a set of people who would not sleep that night. We talked about school and our many experiences, jobs when you started working, future plans, dreams etc.

I remember after your wedding ceremony feeling so bereft when I walked into the room we had shared for so long and it was so empty, all the things that reminded me of the life we had spent together were gone. Thankfully you did not move too far away and by then GSM had arrived. I remember the days I lived through when I thought I would lose you and knew in that instance that if you left I would be more dead than alive. I thank God for sparing your life.

I appreciate the daily calls between us even if it is only a hi and a hello. I appreciate you much more than I can ever express in words. I appreciate you for being my best friend!