Celebrating friendships

Today, I want to write about friendships.

I have this best friend…, Let me tell you the story of how we met.

It was the first day of my resumption at the University. My euphoria at finally being a student of the university was great.

There was a lot I wanted to see. For me, it was not so much about the education I was going to get but more about the experience.

You see, I had watched a lot of Mount Zion movies especially those with a University story line, so I had this preconceived idea of what to expect. Secret cults, kids going wayward at the first taste of freedom, Male lecturers frustrating female students, etc.

Accompanied by my Mum, I made my way into the University Hostel. She had come with me and had also helped me do all of my school registration. It was now time for her to leave, and her last task was to see me safely to the room that I had been given.

As we got in, we passed through a hallway lined up with rooms, majority of them with doors left wide open. Curious, I peeped into some of them. Their insides looked nothing like my imagination, but the excitement of finally leaving the house after a one year wait after high school did not deter me.

We met a lady, very close to the entrance, she came towards us and offered assistance. I think she was a member of the ”catch them young ” team, Campus churches usually send out when new students are arriving. She guided us through to my assigned room.

It was then I saw her.  She knew the lady acting as a guide, and they stopped to exchange pleasantries. The first thing I noticed was that she was a petite girl. she was also pretty and kept natural hair like me. In my eyes, I felt she was too small to be at the university.

When we talk about it now, she tells me she was also wondering why a grown up child like me, would be coming into the University with her Mother in tow.

Fortunately, Her room was next to mine.

The next day, I needed to make stew. I saw her outside and asked her where I could go to get my tomatoes blended. She offered me a manual blender instead and that marked the beginning of our friendship. We began attending classes together.

Looking back, I don’t think we knew then that we would still be friends up till this time. In fact, in our second year, we lived together and it seemed highly unlikely that our relationship would survive, because we butted heads a lot of times. We both sometimes express strong opinions, and it takes a lot to change our mind when we make decisions.

It was like the first stages of a marriage relationship, when you first start living together, and then you discover your partner is human after all and probably snores. But we did survive and our bond became stronger. Its been 12 years and counting.

We don’t talk everyday, and there are periods when we go weeks without so much as an hi, but she is always on my mind. And when we do have the chance to talk, its like we never stopped.

We basically think alike, and if I am unavailable and you want to know my thoughts on something, Just ask her.

We have shared good times and bad times, and she is one of the first people I can talk with, when things are going haywire in my life. One of the best things I love about us, is that we can literally stay in the same room quietly, without feeling the need to talk.

The first day she stepped into my parents house, she named the dog Ugly, and yes the name stuck.

She does not judge my  decisions, but she also keeps me in check with her comments. I remember fondly this last trip that we linked up, I ran an idea past her, she told me she was personally going to conduct prayer and fasting for my deliverance, If I ever took that decision. We do not look like the most spiritual people, but trust me, if there were any witches and wizards in this last trip, be sure they have a story to tell.

Friends come and go, in season and out of season, but she is one friend who is not just a friend but a sister.

I can’t wait to have us living side by side, or at least in the same country, planning family vacations and being fabulous till old age.

Her name is JOY.

Favorite phrase is don’t put pressure on me.