"True friendships are like streetlights along the road; they don't make the distance any shorter, but they light up the path and make the walk worthwhile." ~By Anonymous
I have been lucky to experience some true friendships along the way that made my life journey colorful and amazing. Also, in my cause of keeping friendships, there have been times I had to let things end and let go of one another due to situations we just couldn't move past.
One of those friendships was with a friend I made during my NYSC year. We happened to be grouped into the same platoon eight while we were in camp, but funny enough, we never realized this until after camping was over. As fate would have it, we were both posted to the same primary place of assignment. On getting to our PPA, we kind of did not like the private school they posted us to from camp. The place was too far from the town, and the worst part was that the accommodations the school owner provided for us were too poor.
I was lucky enough to get better accommodations through the MCAN body in the town, and I was very delighted to have my new jolly friend join me in the single-room apartment; that marked the beginning of our friendship.
I still remember the day we were both looking through my camping photos; there was a particular picture of mine, and she appeared in it without any of us realizing it. What a coincidence, and now we happen to be living under the same roof. She was the opposite of who I am, but we loved each other, cared for each other, and will always look out for each other. Our friendship continued until after our service ended in Ogun State.
After the service year, we both moved to Lagos. I was living with my elder sister; I started my first business while she got herself accommodation and started working. All this time, we would visit each other, and carry each other along with the happenings in our lives. At this point, I had thought our friendship would last forever. What could possibly go wrong with us? Well, I never had imagined it, even though the signs have always been there.
She is someone who has been through a lot while growing up, which makes her carried so much anger inside, but no matter how angry she is, she always gives me my respect and listen when I talked to her. I looked past this side of her because I cared a lot about her.
Two years after our service year, she got married, and I was truly happy for her on her big day; I was part and parcel of the wedding.
After their wedding, she started having issues with her husband. In fact, they did have a misunderstanding even before they got married, but I always thought they had outgrown that, not until the day I visited them to inform them about my upcoming wedding. I spent the night with them, as my house was a bit far; that was how we normally did it whenever we visited each other to spend quality time and catch up.
That night around 10 pm, while every one of us was already in bed, my dear friend and her husband got into a serious fight. Her cousin and I, who were living with her, had to force our way into their room to stop them from harming each other. I had to lock her husband inside their room while she was in the sitting room to prevent my friend from hurting her husband with a mortar pistol.
The moment I did not allow them to continue the fight, my friend turned and began to threaten me to open the door where we had locked her husband so that she could do as she pleased, saying that I was siding with the husband. Like, how? When all I was trying to do was to stop them from harming each other.
She said all manner of hurtful words to me, telling me that if I do not open the door, I should forget about our friendship as of that day. To say I was hurt and embarrassed that day was an understatement, but I kept my cool and kept them from hurting each other. I only got to open the door for her when I realized she had calmed down. I asked my friend to explain why she was so upset, but all she was doing was raining insults on her husband.
The following morning, she left around 6 am for work without saying a word to me. The husband told me his owner's side of the story, but all I could tell him was to get both their families involved to settle them because clearly the issue was beyond me to handle.
I left for my house that morning, but my friend never called me or reached out to me. Not until after some months, she sent me a voice note on WhatsApp, and she was accusing me of betraying her by siding with her husband. Like how? Maybe by not letting her kill her husband, I still don't know until today.
To be honest, I never replied to her voice note, and that ends our friendship. She was toxic, and I felt she was just trying to manipulate me emotionally, without even realizing that what she said to me was wrong.
That incident made it very clear to me that I valued our friendship way more than she did, if not, she wouldn't have threatened to end our relationship at the first instance I did something she did not agree to, and I deserved way better than that.
"Friendships aren't measured by time; they're measured by the size of the imprint they leave in our hearts." ~By unknown
Though I do not like how things ended between us, she is someone with whom we shared a lot of beautiful memories, and I always carry those memories in my heart.
Let me put a stop here before this becomes too long.
Thank you so much for your time, all images are mine 