The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by.
— Alek Wek —
It's always exciting entering a new year, for me I have always had the privilege to celebrate the new season with family which had always had different memories. I wouldn't say I've ever had a bad new year celebration, but then I have certainly had an unforgettable one, I like to call it the best of the best. One remarkable incident that happened that day was that I actually took the pictures you are seeing. Like Kelvin taking pictures of himself isn't something you see everyday, I needed to make sure I had a memory of that day, I even went as far as uploading the pictures on my Google cloud account as well as saving them in my email. They are good memories to me, but never did I ever think I will be writing about them one day. But thanks to the contest on the community for #hl-w43e3, I'm able to tell my story.
What made that January first special wasn't because someone won a lottery in the family, or because we bought something new that was never there, it was rather because that was the moment my dad realized the hurt he caused every member of the family and for the first time, was truly sorry for it.
He had made so many mistakes in the past that almost killed the love in the family, at first we all hated him, and it wasn't long we began to hate ourselves, my younger ones suffered it the most because they lost care from both parents. My mum became too broken to even show love to her children, not because she didn't love us, but she was the one who was hurt the most.
I was in school so I couldn't really do much until I came back and spoke with my mum. I started by ensuring I filled the gap my dad left in her heart the best way I could then, and when she was able to find some strength, I discovered her Joy was more about the family coming back together than her letting go of my dad even after everything he caused her. By December, we paid a visit to a pastor my dad respected so much in port Harcourt and my mum for the first time explained everything my dad had put the entire family through. From ruining the family business, to maltreatment and physical abuse. The pastor was quite an elderly person, who was well respected in the city of Port Harcourt Nigeria. He immediately called my dad and the whole family together and first of all quarreled him in front of us all, but after some time spoke to him secretly, after which gave us sometime to reflect on everything. It wasn't long my dad came to the realization of everything he had done and started making efforts to make things right.
On January 1st 2019, my family was in Port Harcourt, where my dad just got a job (The first thing he did was to bring us to where he was because he had been far away from us). From there I saw my dad say the words I am sorry (he never apologizes even when his wrong). Because of the meeting with the pastor, we all decided we would give my dad a second chance and for the first time in three years my family was truly happy staying together.
The joy on the face of my siblings was the climax for me. It had been so long I saw them that happy. I was happy too, we played although out that day, did a lot of videos and took few pictures....
That was a January to always remember for me indeed. Thanks for stopping by my blog today, until next time....