Hello everyone and hello for the first time to 
I will like to share my escapade on a random weekend with friends and a family member (my younger sister). Though not as random as it may seem but I like to consider it the perfect time to escape from life's stress as I used it as an opportunity to provide myself with the illusion of happiness for that moment.
Here we go!
The long story before the weekend
It's been a very boring life since mom left us in 2017. Dad already left since 2011 so mom's death hit us really hard. We had to leave our home in a bid to ease the pain. Living with a family member made things easier but depression was the order of the day as it wasn't easy leaving home to live with a family member. It wasn't as comforting and there was no helping it. The university system wasn't helping either as it wasn't giving me the deserved grade thus happiness wasn't exactly the watchword. I still somehow graduated as one of the best students in the department but the systemic favouritism will forever haunt me.
Graduated from the university last year August, had covid-19 September but somehow survived after over a month of stress thanks to hard work from Doctors and nurses. It wasn't easy but I survived. Been a workaholic ever since as I spend majority of my time in front of my laptop in my in-house office since I work from home.
It's been sleepless nights and endless days of work without a strand of fun until I decided I wanted out. I wanted to be like everyone else, I needed some fun in my life, I wanted to be happy and wanted to spend time with people I cherish hence I planned a visit to the mall with my younger sister whom I had not seen in months, along with friends whom I somewhat consider family. I have a elder sister too but she lives in the UK with her husband so she's out of the equation in this escapade.
Weekend escapade at the mall
Since I needed to clear my head badly and perhaps create some sort of happiness via time spent with family and doing something different, I decided to plan a outing. Coincidentally, it was a week to Christmas and I could hardly stand the wait so I decided we'd be going to the Maryland Mall in Lagos and we'd be seeing the new spider man movie (Spiderman No way home) since I was literally hyped for the movie after all Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be appearing.
Basically, the lots of us was I, younger sister, a friend and his younger sister.
Here's my younger sister, she's 11. Probably wondering why she's this young? Well, she came late. She wasn't wasn't until I was 14. That's a lot of age difference. I literallt treat her like she's my daughter- the pampering and all.
At the start of the journey to the mall, we had to take a public transport since we do not have a personal vehicle. At this point she was so fixated on her phone that she wasn't aware I took her picture. She was seeing cartoons on her smartphone but I couldn't take a full shot sue to my sitting position, my left hand wasn't as free since I sat at an angle and it wasn't very convenient hence I had to do it with one hand.
We got to the BRT terminal and had to wait for a few minutes for a friend and his younger sister to join us since we were gonna be having some fun together.
I have no idea why I didn't appear in the first picture but from far left is my younger sister, centre is my friend's younger sister and right is my childhood friend. We've known each other for over years eleven (11) and it's been good ever since.
We're not only friends but family.
That's me on the far right of the picture with a blue shirt and a grey Jean. I wonder what I was looking at. I have no idea why I look like this but I look younger amd smaller than my age. A lot of people say I look 17 but I'm actually 25. I guess it all has to so with the genes- that's something I can't control.
On getting to the Mary land mall, there were a lot of people there since it was a Friday, a day to Christmas and preparations were ongoing plus a lot of people had come over to have some fun just as we did.
We did some picture taking rounds as seen below!
We were going to see the Spiderman movie so sister decided to take a picture by the poster. She's She's a big fan since she was three (3). Every kid loves the Spiderman cartoons.
Whoever took the above picture took it from a wrong angle, thus making me look short and a bit 'small'. I'm actually taller than I look in the picture.
Once again I look 17 or younger. That face mask requires adjustment.
I can't possibly share all pictures as it would look all messy.
After the picture rounds, we moved along to an eatery where we sat on a round table while laughing and joking around before taking an order.
I wonder what my sister was looking at out there. Whatever it was must have really got her attention. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't remember if I asked her what it was. After After it's been months and more memories have been created.
We moved to a more convenient table and ordered rice and chicken. It was basically a cheap cash grab from the eatery as the food was slightly expensive due to the fact that it was a festive period and a lot of people were coming in. I guess it was a sort of bragging rights for them.
I present to you the cheap cash grab!
It was jollof-rice and chicken, a bottle of coke and a plate of Salad!
As much as I'd like to share a video of the lots of us munching down the goodies, I can't sknce I can't find an option to do so.
Dinner was over and the fun began. While the guys went over to play some driving games, the ladies went into a rocking car for the thrills.
She's looking cute with the black face mask on!
Surprisingly I'm not even in the equation since whoever was with my phone at the time was probably too busy taking pictures of something else.
We had fun, had stuffs to drink once more before moving unto the main event, the grand finale- seeing the movie we had come for! Spiderman No way home!
The cinema was upstairs so we had ti take the escalator which was a bit scary for my younger sister since it wasbher second time. I had to hold her hand all the way through since she hadn't developed enough confidence to go up the self-moving stairs on her own.
The movie ticket was unexpectedly more expensive that it normally should have been but it was very well underwood that these peeps have their way of of inflating price at every opportunity- in this case he festivities of Christmas. I didn't mind but made the payment since I went there to have some fun and not to discuss the concept of 'inflation' with whoever was in charge.
Altogether it was a very fun weekend which I found enjoyable. The fun activities and the movie made me feel different. I was glad I left my comfort zone and went out there to have some fun as I've been lacking a lot of it. I haven't had that much fun since my mom left 2017, so it was like my own way of finally utting the past behind after four depressive (4) years. I Got to clear my head and kept those depressive thoughts at bay at least for the moment I was there with friends and family.
Moments like these make life meaningful and I'm glad to have this in my memory as a day I had fun after years of boredom and depression.
The above events took place on a Friday, the 24th of December year 2021 at the maryland mall, Lagos, Nigeria! The weekend wasn't only special for me but was special for everyone of us!
Thanks for reading!
Images used are all mine.
Greetings!
Kristoffer!