Reflection
People will always advise "Be yourself and don't be like someone else." I'd pause and reminisce on that saying above because deep down inside me, I want to be like Aunt Hannah.
Coming back from school one cozy evening, I noticed luggage outside the estate like someone was being chased out. "Is someone moving out already?" I muttered to myself. I wasn't bothered because it wasn't my mother's belongings, but I would have if it were my mother's.
I opened the gate and saw some men moving the luggage into the apartment where a tenant had just moved out of. "Ooh, we have a new neighbor," I exclaimed silently and walked into the house.
"Good evening mummy" I greeted
"Welcome and how was school today?" Mum asked.
"School was fine, mummy is our new neighbor a male or female?" I asked with curiosity.
"Well, I think it's a female," Mum replied, but wasn't sure of the gender.
"It should be a female, please," I said while walking into the room.
A few minutes later, I heard a knock at the door, getting up from my seat to go see who it was when I heard mum say "don't worry, I will get it".
"Good evening ma, my name is Hannah. I just moved into the neighborhood, can I borrow a lighter from you please".
No, that voice doesn't sound like a female's voice; it's a female's. Immediately I felt this excitement boiling in my stomach like bees making honey. At that moment I knew I wanted to be friends with the person behind that voice. I went to bed with the voice echoing in my head.
The next morning came, going to school, then I bumped into the new neighbor, now I haven't seen such a beautiful smile in my entire lifetime, I couldn't hold myself back, rather I went to her and said "good morning, fine aunty". Immediately, her smile grew wider, like I've triggered something. Then she responded with that same smile.
From that moment, I knew I wanted to be close to her maybe like an adopted daughter or something. It seems my prayers were heard. As weeks turned into months, Aunt Hannah and I became very close like sisters. At some point, people started seeing a striking resemblance between us and would say, "Are you a sister?".
Aunty Hannah taught me a lot of things. Often, when she came back from her place of work, I would be the first person she would call out to and like a guardian angel, I would appear.
Whenever we were together, she would tell me stories about her life and how she got to where she is today "it wasn't by all prayers but then you have to put in the work" she would always advise "go to school now that you are still very young and don't let people influence you from being who you truly are".
Listening to Aunt Hannah tell those amazing and sometimes sad stories made me realize that indeed no man is an island of knowledge because she adhered to the saying of the people around her and built her life around the positive lessons she picked out from people's stories and experiences. Those moments built the zeal for furthering my education in a higher institution in my heart.
Often, I would tell her, "Aunty Hannah, I want to be like you, I want to become a graduate like you." Then she would smile, sometimes I feel like smiling is the only thing she knows how to do best.
When I wrote my final exams in my senior secondary education level, my mum said I should go learn a skill, but then I declined, saying I wanted to further my education at the university without wasting any time, because Aunty Hannah didn't spend much time in her parents' house after her senior secondary school. Then mum looked at me and was like "if that is what you want, then it's fine".
"Yes, mummy," I replied.
The following day, my mum gave me the money for my JAMB form, and that was how my journey into the university started.
I'm glad I took a leaf out of Aunt Hannah's book by learning from her experiences and emulating her positive attitude. I applied those things I picked out from Aunt Hannah and poured them into my life by enrolling in the university at a very young age.
Thank you for reading 🧡
