Seated on the floor, eating my breakfast of sandwich, chips, and tea, I pick up my phone to check today’s date and to my surprise, it’s the twenty-ninth day of Christmas— if we’re counting from the first of December, cos I honestly don’t know how the days of Christmas work— already and it’s a Wednesday. Hoooooww?! Must be all that fun I had that made me lose track of time, courtesy of an old friend I recently reconnected with (by old friend, I do not mean an ex, I mean exactly an old friend).
The thought of how time flew past me without me seeing it, left me reminiscing on the past few days and the many kind acts I was witness to. This took me further down the memory lane of “top kind acts of 2021“.
In order of occurrence, I’ll take you down the lane of top three kind acts of 2021. I have received a lot of kindness this year, but these three I’ll share, stand out for me because they were very random and unexpected.
Act One; October 2021
It was a Tuesday evening, at past five pm, and I was heading out of the plant, walking like I was being powered by my last one percent of energy. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. I was drained and my muscles were in purgatory. I could barely walk, I had a bad left leg, due to pressure from long hours of standing and walking ceaselessly. Getting myself to the gate took so much effort, I just wanted to get back home and throw my useless self on the bed.
I was outside the company gate, waiting impatiently for a bike, when this black car, driving out of the company, stopped in its tracks. Its driver asked me where I was headed and offered to drop me get there.
My initial reaction was surprise, cos I had walked past this man earlier and didn’t greet him. On a normal day, even one that isn’t gay, I’d greet everyone I come across, the birds and the grasses included. But on that fateful evening, my tiredness had extended to my mouth and vocal cords, the most I could do was a mental greeting. And there was no way this gentleman could have known that I had greeted him in my head.
A regular Nigerian elder would not have bothered to stop for a girl who saw him and didn’t greet him. This particular Nigerian elder saw beyond my “poor manners” and chose to be kind. He had noticed the limp in my gait, so he decided to help me when he met me at the gate.
The first thing he said to me when I got in his car, after exchanging greetings and expressing my gratitude, was “How was work today? You must be very tired, I saw you earlier at the plant. I was behind you watching how you were walking, that’s why I stopped for you.” I was touched by that, but somewhere in my heart, I was expecting that he’d ask for my contact. He had to want something back, most Nigerian men aren’t just kind to women for no reason. It’s always tit for tat, even if they’d ask for tat much later, strategically.
This man was to be different. I thought he was also helping cos he was headed in my direction but it turned out he had no business in my axis at all, our paths were very different. He meant what he said when he said he wanted to help— this man dropped me right in front of my home gate, not minding that it was really far from work and his own home. Can you believe it?
I was skeptical when he asked for my house address. I almost gave him a wrong direction cos I didn’t totally trust his intentions. And I’m glad I didn’t do that. I’m about to shock you again, are you ready? Okay. This man dropped me off without even asking for my name, throughout our conversation on the ride! You know what that means, right? He didn’t ask for my number! And he didn’t bring up all that talk about when we could hang out.
My gracious God! Whatever charm I wore that day, I love it! Cos this man saw me the next day at work and didn’t even recognize me. Ran into him a couple of other times, and every time, I had to reintroduce myself as the girl he helped “the other day”. Lol! The cute part is how he’d always have a questioning do-I-know-you? look in his eyes, while politely acknowledging my greeting, which was always familiar, with a smile.
You are probably wondering what kind of slow man he is. Well, he isn’t. We both wore face masks throughout our interactions. I would have had problems identifying him too, but for his feet (sandals, actually)—he didn’t wear boots like the rest of us.
Act Two; 25th of December, 2021
On Christmas morning, I woke up with a soaked pad of tissue, a sore body, hungry and clueless on what to eat. After hours of lying lazily in bed, I dragged myself out of bed to prepare and eat the only available breakfast cereal in the house, a depressing one.
Ho! Ho! Ho! It was about to be a depressing Christmas, but my Chi, in conjunction with my soul sister, said “not on our watch, not on the Prince of Peace’s birthday!” Lo and behold, a call from an unknown number came in.
It was an elf, disguising as a dispatch rider from Country Kitchen, delivering food from Santa Omachalacha. My soul sister had made arrangements for food to be delivered to me on Christmas morning. Oh boy! I could have drowned the rider in Christmas tears, but hard girls don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves… My Soul Sister changed the trajectory of my day. It didn’t matter that she was in Lagos and I was in Osun.
Act Three; 25th of December, 2021
That same morning, while basking in the love from thousands of miles away and trying not to think of my soaked “pad”, my Chi led this young man to my doorstep. Prior to the young man’s arrival, I had gone out in a futile search for sanitary pads. I had used the last one the previous morning, I thought I had a spare pack somewhere. I always do. By the time I realized I had no extra pack, it was too late; all the neighbouring shops were closed. I had to wait till Christmas morning… Long story cut short, Mr young man climbed mountains and crossed oceans to get me two packs of sanitary pads and he paid for them.
Two times in a row, without a break, my soft spot was tickled… Did Mr Young Man end there? No, but the remaining part of the story doesn’t really concern you. Sorry.
The End.
To a beautiful Christmas; to kind hearts; to love spread; to my Chi, Omachalacha, Mr Young Man, and my Elf friend who sent me money on Christmas eve, Cheers.🍻
Merry Christmas, everyone (according to my Church calendar, it’s still Christmas). In the spirit of Christmas, I am still receiving gifts (including money) on behalf of infant Jesus, a.k.a, Prince of Peace.
Account Number: 2125556651
Bank Name: UBA
Account Name: Emmanuel Jesus God
A very happy and prosperous New Year in advance, to those who would show love to our (myself and infant Jesus) joint account.