Losing a loved one to death can be so painful and depressing, and it's quite a difficult phrase to get over quickly, most especially when you're super close with such a person and have shared different moments together during their lifetime. One of the reasons why it's difficult to sail through the pain is because of the good old days we spent together, which will keep flooding our minds and reminding us of the memories we shared and the void they've left behind. I've lost some loved ones and knew how terrible such can be, and I'll be talking about one that really pained me.
One of the dearest people to my heart who died was my grandmother, and I know you might be wondering how that could possibly be when, through my life, I've come to lose friends, neighbors, and even colleagues to death, and yet it's my grandparents death that pained me the most. Well, if that's your thought, I'll tell you why, and the major reason is because she was the one who raised me from a tender age. I mean, it was at her place that I've got my earliest memories of childhood, and I didn't leave the comfort of her home until I was eighteen and just gained admission into the university.
My grandparents, especially my grandmother, during their lifetime was one of the sweetest soups you'll ever come across, and that's because of the unwavering love they shower on not her children and grandchildren, but on those shown today's neighbors and today strangers who come in contact with them, and sometimes I just look back and wish we'd had more people like them in our world today, because had that been, then our world would have been a safe haven for everyone.
I grew up in one of the most notorious parts of Lagos and Nigeria in general, and in this part of the world where I had my childhood, children as young as 7 and above might have been into smoking and drinking due to the influence of the society that we live in. In fact, to make this more understandable, most of my primary school colleagues already know how to smoke and drink beer from that tender age.
And by the time I was in my first year of elementary school, some girls as young as 13 were already pregnant, and boys were into hard drugs, which usually go on to destroy their lives and jeopardize their future. But despite all of the chaos playing out all around me, growing up under the watchful and disciplinary grandparents I had was what helped shape my life from indulging in all of such things.
Had they not been strict in not allowing me to mingle with other students after school and as well making sure I attend a school where one of our relatives works, knowing someone from my family is there would make me caution myself and not go astray for fear of being rat out to my grandparents parents by the relatives, and such usually results in disciplinary actions.
of which helps me to live a lifestyle I'm not thankful for because had they not been in the picture during those childhood days of my life, then I'd probably have been a nobody or a menace to my society because most of my friends in school, who do all of these things, are just living without hope for the future because most don't have both formal and informal education to help them sail through life and overcome challenges that come along the way.
Lessons in Resilience and Self-Sufficiency: So all of these are reasons why I so much love them; their caring and emotional support is second to none, and so is their discipline and advice that help shape my life in the right direction. And that's not forgetting how the morals, values, and knowledge they instill in me have gone on to help me in life now, even in their absence. They're my first love, and like I used to say, I used to love them more than I do towards my parents, and you can't blame me for that because they're the ones I knew and saw as parents while growing up.
They're also instrumental in the knowledge and experiences I have in farming because they were the ones from whom I learned and adopted these, and it has helped me in many ways, especially in this difficult moment of inflation and the hike in prices of all food items. Growing my own food has given me an edge and helped me not be overwhelmed by the struggles others are going through presently.
Healing and Moving Forward: Moving on wasn't so easy for me to do; in fact, I was writing my final year exams at the university when my grandmother passed away, and I was so overwhelmed by pain and grief that I couldn't concentrate on my studies as I couldn't help but drift away from the book I'm reading to thinking about her and the memories we shared. Luckily, I wrote the exam and sailed through successfully, but deep down, I know I'd have had a better outcome in those subjects had that not happened during that time.
Well, as time went on, I was able to overcome the pain, and with time, it became easier and less painful. As Luke says, time is a healer, and even though I've got loads of memories of them in my life, thinking about them doesn't give me any form of pain anymore. All I felt was what it would have been like if they were here now, but no pain whatsoever. But then I'm grateful for the moment we shared and will always love them.
Thanks so much for your time. I hope you enjoyed the read. Have a wonderful day ahead, and stay blessed.
App photos are from canva