What I call a Happy family

Our conversation got pretty personal, and more and more intimate questions emerged, "So what do you call a happy family"?…I took a long pause and a deep breath also emerged, it was a question I never expected and in the next minutes I became pensive, and I thought of the wonderful family I would call happy.

I thought of that family where love abounds, where it means everything to love. The perfect family where trust is the value, where every one cares and our successes are our happiness, that ideal family where Christ and his teachings form the foundation of our values. I imagine the family that upholds the fan and fantasy theory, where we celebrate one another and we long for the presence and company of one another…

I’ll call it a happy family if it’s got enough resources to make everyone comfortable, all though this isn’t really pertinent, but of course resources are a very important drive for happiness, I want to explore the world with my family, at every opportunity we get, and doing this of course needs a lot of resources, however my friend goes on to argue that poor families are also happy, but I do disagree, I asked myself, “what goes through the mind of the poor man when he sees a rich one lavishing and wasting resources he dearly needs, is he (the poor man)really happy?” however, the rich man also has his challenges, and the balance becomes clear. But the truth is, is there any happy family?

Personally, I cannot be happy when my “needs” cannot be met, if one person isn’t happy, then the family cannot really be happy, we can share our love and understanding when we are all comfortable.

But then again, I thought of what I define as “happy”, examining it, the word strikes me as a temporary shallow feeling, more like a momentary feeling, and it would be unjust to associate a long standing permanent institution like family with happiness that is defined as a temporary feeling.

In all of these, I just want true joy with the family I’m gonna have…a constantly happy family however does exist, mine shouldn’t be an exemption…

My Thursday ordeal

Tired, hungry, exhausted and used up, the sun was setting and it was certainly unavoidable now, the headache persisted and i just wanted rest but the journey back home was still about ninety minutes. I joined the queue, got a ticket, and I hoped for a pleasant and at least peaceful ride. I Got on the bus and i searched frantically for a comfortable seat, one that would at least keep me away from the sun. There was a quick jolt from my back, causing disruption in the queue behind,  I realised the "market women" were at it again, the queue had been scattered, and in an instance there was the begining of an endless war of words between the women, they made references to their personage, backgrounds, parents, lifestyle...and so on. They hurled insults of different degrees, colours and calibre at each other. Hmmm, So much for a peaceful ride that i had envisaged. This wasn't one of the usual small commercial buses, or the the shabilly constructed currugated metal carriers "molue" that transported these "market women" so why wont they let's have some quiet. Thank God my phone still had enough battery and i could therefore listen to some soft, slow music. The long standing traffic made the journey even worse, and gradually the women lost words. Sitting next to me, was another one of these women who constantly picked out oranges from her bag, and devoured them agressively, as if they were not hers and of course in irritation and anger i tried to look away.
In the quiet moments, there came this very loud, fat woman again from the rear, and now what? there she goes, "my brothers and sisters, this is my first time of ever having to beg for money in my life....bla bla bla" and her story begins, she told a story of how she hasn't menstruated for nine years and how she needed to undergo an operation, and then indulging fellow passengers, she pleaded for pity and begged for alms. Surprisingly, i wasn't sure what the case was, but with a sharp turn in the tune of the voice, she began cursing everyone who hadnt responded to her plea, perhaps she had not gathered as much as she anticipated, perhaps she felt she wasnt getting enough pity, or perhaps she was never supposed to have been pitied. Now in awe and disgust i watched as people began to reproach her conduct, the bus would halt in a few minutes and again i thought of how much i longed for some quiet...This would only happen in my beloved Nigeria.

racontes...

It was a beautiful and serene sunday evening, I sat quietly on my balcony, and in the distant journey of my thoughts, fantansies and memories flourished, memories of highschool escapades, our little sleep overs...  The buzzer rang and there was the swift interruption in the flow of my thoughts. At the door was an unfamiliar face accompanied by another familiar one. The big smile on each face sugessted it was a going to be an eventful evening afterall. A warm welcome from me encouraged the debut of a seemingly endless conversations. After two hours of chit chats on politics, religions, music and the new trends in the Nigerian way of life, We had all shared our personal opinions on matters arising in the Nigerian politics and where it headed, we all agreed the beautiful ones are not yet born and most certainly the ugly ones have refused to die, and indeed developemnt was a thing of too many years to come, perhaps not in our generation, don't get me wrong, not like we gave up hope on our nation, but the reality of attaining developemnet in the country seemed far fetched, more like the reves of ant flying someday. The freedom with which we all shared the pains our minds witnessed about the state of the nation gave way to my assumption again about like minds and the similar interests they share. It was one of those few times I"ve expressed myself happily, The night was gradually drawing to a close. It was now i realised there had been no formal introduction. "A" had brought along his brother "B", to visit their beautiful next door neighbor...

to be contd...