Blog - November 14, 2020

Day 14: The November Happiness Challenge 2020

Hello Nigeria, my people. Lol. Anytime I see or hear that phrase, I go into bouts of laughter because I consider it very funny. Talking about laughter, my friend, Apinkeade makes me laugh. Not the kind of laughter that is done in mockery, but the one that genuinely makes me happy and is heartily done. She has a great sense of humour and she easily understands my jokes even when they aren’t obvious to the third person. I consider this a very deep love language, and I’m not letting her go. One would assume that we have known each other since our parents birthed us, but no, we actually began our friendship journey in 2017, which is three years ago. She is one of the priceless gifts that Social media gave me via twitter, and the aforementioned year was the first time we physically met, at my wedding. She came all out from Lagos to attend my wedding and with how active and present she was, it is no wonder that my other friends believed that she was a long time friend of mine, and not that we were seeing each other for the first time. Since that time, it has been bliss upon bliss, and even despite that we sometimes have our differences ( which solid friends don’t?) , we have grown in bond and closeness, and her friendship is such that brings me happiness and calm. Sometime in August 2019, she came to Abuja to visit, and she came bearing gifts for baby F and I. She stayed up all night while F was having her night cries, and she tended to her like her own. She also opened her home to me when I had my event in Lagos, and she made movement very easy for me by driving me everywhere and not letting me feel I was outside of my comfort zone. I like to say that she is my sister, because sometimes, friendship is so pure and genuine that you just tell yourself that it has extended into sisterhood. We have cried together and I feel at ease letting her into parts of my life that I do not just allow anyone into. This comes naturally, without push or force, and without non reciprocation. I am the kind who doesn’t think that friends have to have conversations every day for them to know they have each other’s backs. I am the kind of friend who might not hear from you for a while but I’d make excuses that we are both busy and that it doesn’t make you less of a friend. To me, as long as I confirm that you are fine, I know that when you return, we continue to kick it! It gives me great joy to know that Apinke is this way too, because we really don’t talk to each other all the time but we both know that whether far or wide, Apinke has Tolani’s back and Tolani has Apinke’s.

My mum would say: Apinke nko? Ko beere mi ni? ( How is Apinke, doesn’t she ask of me). This is because they have met a number of times and they bonded like it was the most natural thing. She is that friend who can go to my parent’s house without me being at home because they are willing to let her in. This happened because her behaviors and attitudes have shown that she is worthy of being trusted and take in. It is beautiful, I tell you. My dad who isn’t the chit chatty type actually finds it easy to hold conversations with her anytime she comes to the house, because she respectfully found a way to carry everyone along. Thank you for being my friend, Apinke. You are actually my aburo ( inside joke), and I cherish you that much. I pray that God protects, guides, guards and has mercy on you. I pray that He grants your beneficial desires and that He grants them soon. Today, we are going to see a movie. It is Saturday so there is no excuse of being too busy. There are loads of interesting movies on Netflix, and if you don’t have access to that, you can try YouTube. It doesn’t have to be a serious movie, in fact, I’d recommend a comedy because life is already too serious for us to watch serious movies all the time. You can try to watch “Your Excellency” on Netflix if you haven’t seen it already. I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed a lot. Any other movie is equally fine. I’ll be back. BOS