Blog - November 9, 2020

Day 9: The November Happiness Challenge 2020

I promised I’d talk about people and things who make me happy, and I’m making good of that promise, please don’t be tired yet. If you know me to an extent, then you’d know Olatoun. You may not even know how she looks because my babe doesn’t like pictures ( I’ll say a funny story regarding this later), but you’d definitely see me talk about her from time to time, because I am very vocal about my feelings and I love my people loudly. I met Olatoun physically for the first time in 2013. I was running my masters degree programme at the University of Ibadan and I decided to start an Arabic class since I needed to brush up my Quran reading abilities. I had seen her handle a couple of times on the timeline because we had some mutual friends but we just never had a reason to interact. Coincidentally, she wanted to also learn Arabic and she talked about it on twitter. A mutual friend then copied my handle to hers because I had earlier talked about it too, we reached out to each other to discuss our options since we were both in Ibadan, and the rest they say, is history. What drew me to her was that, we met for the first time when we were visiting the Arabic school for enquiries, and the meeting was such that would make anyone assume we had known each other for years. We clicked quite well from that first day, and her behavior and disposition towards life made it easy to decide that she was a friend I’d like to keep for life. We were the fancy ‘Islamiyah’ girls and we even had matching Qurans which she bought for us. Shortly after, she had to leave Nigeria to study and I had mixed feelings. I was sad that we didn’t have enough time to be physical friends while I was happy that she was going to pursue her dreams and that trumped every other feeling. Before she left though, we had movie dates, we shopped together, we hung out from time to time and we made sure to spend adequate time with each other. By the time she left, it was as if I was missing a friend who I had known all my life. That is how beautiful the friendship was, has been and will be, by God’s grace. About the picture story, this babe once came to Nigeria for some weeks and we took pretty pictures. Would you believe that she came again the following year and the last pictures she had taken the previous year weren’t far at all in her photo gallery? I mean, she came in 2015 and we took pictures, when she came in 2016, the pictures from 2015 were easily accessible on her camera pictures because she had only taken few shots after the 2015 visit. It was very funny to me , and not common at all😂. I still laugh at her about it. She is kind. And if you know me, you’d know how big I am on kindness. She is kind in her speech and actions, and this is meaningful because it shows a high level of intentionality. She has a way of making me feel better even when I rant to her about my down moments. She prays for me and encourages me over and over without showing any sign of being tired. I vibe with this, I vibe with this very much. She makes me want to be a better Muslim. Many times, I look at Toun and I’m in awe of how she constantly works at being better with her Deen. She is that friend that her whole life just prompts you to intensify your good deeds and act of worship to God, and for these I am truly thankful. Her magnanimity is also worthy of note because she is always coming through for me even without me asking. She would shop for baby F from time to time and send me Funds without prompt. The way she takes up responsibility for people around her is commendable and I can only pray that God rewards her abundantly.

I don’t take it for granted that I have friends I can talk to at any time, friends who hold conversations with me that make me happy, friends who I can always count on because I know they mean well for me. Olatoun is one of such friends and I wish her all the beneficial things she wishes herself. I love you, my darling, and I admire all that you are. Today, we will make sure that we don’t complain about anything. It looks simple but it can be really hard and we must be very intentional about it. Don’t complain about the food you are eating, or an outfit, or the weather, or a ride you take to work, etc. Instead, thank God for each opportunity and fix a smile if you can. People will try you for course but remember? DO NOT COMPLAIN! I’ll be back. OBA