IN THE BEGINNNING

Act 1, Scene 1

Sykik: hello, Dr. E, did you get the picture and mail I sent to you

Dr E: Sykik, congratulations, the double line means you are pregnant

Sykik: ok, thank you

It's been a roll coaster nine months , at first it was unbelief.....no scratch that, I couldn't comprehend the singular sentence "congratulations, you are pregnant" , it was an out of body experience because, every symptom I felt was telling me, Auntie Flo was about to pay her monthly visit and as usual was making a dramatic entrance. My understanding of morning sickness was nausea, vomiting , weird food cravings, etc

My reaction to the doctors’ news was unbelievably calm. I didn't scream, cry, jump or anything. I just said thank you doctor, dropped the phone and crawled back into bed........who does that?.......Sykik is definitely a weirdo........this was one news I have waited the past nine years to hear and all I could do was go back to sleep...... Wait a second, before I went back to sleep, I turned to Hubby and told him what the doctor said.

Fast forward to two weeks after, I was hit by the worst constipation ever known to man.  

FEELING GOOD

There have been times when;

I have been consumed by worry,

I have allowed my tears to blind me,

I allowed fear to overwhelm your mightiness

I felt I couldn’t go on,

I felt like crawling into a hole,

I felt my heart will stop beating,

I cried out….. God where are you?

And

There have been times when;

I couldn’t but shout for joy,

I couldn’t help bursting out in laughter,

I couldn’t dance enough,

I felt overwhelming love,

I felt unmerited favour

I felt on top of the world

I cried out….Baba God you too much

Michael Buble’s version of the song “Feeling Good" best describes how I feel this very moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edwsf-8F3sI&gl=NG&hl=en-GB

VALENTINE RAMBLINGS

Valentine day was here and it’s gone, yea, neatly tucked away till 2016. How did you spend your Valentine’s Day? I know there are different categories of people concerning Val celebrations.

Those who don’t believe in it, these are the tough skinned, my-love-sees clearly, I-am-never-in-a-maze kind of persons. They are not the lovey-dovey, mushy personalities. They most often don’t believe in special dates like anniversaries and may often forget birthdays and special events. To them, they can celebrate love whenever, wherever and however without making a fuss about it. I want to believe they are mostly the focused, clear headed, I see beyond the facade kind of persons.

Those who don’t believe in it because they don’t have anyone to spend the day with are those who over the years have had their hearts broken, smashed and left in tatters. They are “relationship-less” and therefore claim not to believe in the essence of Valentine’s Day. This category of persons will switch sides once they find themselves dating again. They are like the weather; they see the sunny side of life when all is looking rosy and green.

Those of who are unrepentant “lovaholics” and celebrate it unhindered, I fall under this category. We are the advocates of love; we don’t have a reason to celebrate. We just love having gifts and sharing gifts. Also, I might add that under this category are the “follow-follow”, they don’t understand what the day is all about but will rather be caught dead not going with the flow.

And lastly those who are forced to celebrate it (Hubby falls under this category). This category of persons is arm twisted; blackmailed and threatened to celebrate Valentine’s Day. To them it is just a craze and farce by commercial vendors to get people to spend money by ascribing a special status to a day.  

I remember one time in the office that a delivery man brought roses, cake and chocolates to  one of my colleagues...when the delivery man came to the office and asked of her, she was “awwwing” and “haaaaaing”, everyone was peeping wondering where the roses, cake and chocolate came from. Babes begin to elongate their neck to read the tags and know who the mystery man was, as per we all knew she was “boyfriend–less” at this time.  Lo and behold, the florist must have made a mistake because they used her name as the sender and receiver of the roses...oh my days, she was taunted and I am sure she was embarrassed, I was ashamed on her behalf....who in this day and age still does ^sh*t like this, and if you must do, the watch word is don’t be caught. That’s the day I know babes are not smiling at all.

I don’t think I want to be the babe without a gift for valentine but it has happened to me before, though we ended up having dinner later in the day. Will I go to the extreme and send a gift to myself...nope....will I mope.....I don’t think so, I am hyper like that, I have so much positive energy at times, it scares me as well.....just the same way that I can flip the coin at a short notice. I got the two extremes of introvert and extrovert personality.

Truth be told, I am not so crazy about Valentine celebration as I was some years ago, so I guess maybe Hubby’s prayers might work and I will outgrow it ....my Val celebration was low key when compared with previous years...no particular reason sha, Victoria island traffic was #doromegasuperstar.....and all those “small- small” children like Duru Aldophus Jnr ^*winks* just filled all the malls and fast food joints.  Shopping for groceries or any other item that day was so tasking, I am thinking of starting a campaign to restricting Valentine’s celebration to just the married and mature adults...kilode...because you want to buy plastic flower and Ferrero Rocher chocolate, you won’t let a whole Auntie Sykik see road again..... hehehehe..........there’s no respect again. Abeg, raise your hand if you support my advocacy, lol...Sykik is a confirmed “agbaya”.

I need to outgrow this Valentine fever because Hubby has jokingly said he hopes when I am old and grey and with no teeth to chop chocolate again, he will rest from Valentine’s Day celebration, (kai, to imagine that such a day will come) and maybe he will be giving me corned beef instead. I had to remind him that he’s some years older, so it’s reassuring that he will be old , grey and without teeth before me...I won’t even feed him with corned beef...I will five him grounded sardine...hehehehe.....old age Valentine love go sweet oh

OFFICE APROKO

A pregnant lady in my office lost her pregnancy during the second trimester and I feel so bad about the incidence, but how do you console someone like that. Some persons were telling her it’s better to lose the pregnancy than a grown child but truly is the pain any less............ According to her, she had to go through labour and it wasn’t a funny experience at all. I offered my sympathies and told her my favourite bible quote is Eccl 3: 11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time”...... This verse has been my life line when all seems lost, when I feel all hope is lost and I am spiritually weary. She’s surviving and I feel very soon she will be pregnant again, that’s if she’s not already. Una know say some women body be magnet...they don’t waste time, before Hubby touches them, they haff catch belle, it is well. Even my mind is telling me that my sister-in-law will soon "catch" another belle....because, most people I know seem to go back for repeat course almost immediately after their first babies.

Another lady in my office just had twin boys, her pregnant tummy was extra large so I am not surprised, what left my mouth hanging open is that she’s already a mother to five children. This makes it seven children ........I doff my small “ikebe” for her. It takes a whole lot of courage and strength to born 1, not to talk of 7. There are people who love children and won’t mind having lots and lots of them but even me that haff not born yet can’t comprehend how she has been managing to stay sane and how she intends to stay sane with 7 children. She doesn’t look like someone with 2 children sef; she’s got a very trim body.

Someone shared a story of how his brother’s wife got pregnant after 5 children and then ended up with triplets meaning he has 8 children now; he said his brother went missing for three days upon hearing the good news. They had to report case of missing person to the police oh, when he came back on the third day he said he had to go into recluse and re-strategize because he couldn’t fathom where the triplets came from.......I thought people did scan and other tests to confirm these things.....so, lemme start warning Hubby not to think of running away in case God decides to “open the floodgates of heaven and pour out on us so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it”.....after all it will be worth the years of waiting.

The harmattan haff disappeared oh; it’s so hot in Lagos that I have forgotten that some weeks ago, we were complaining of dust and cold. People too plenty for Lagos sef, the traffic, horn hooting, swearing and cursing, car brushing and rowdiness is back on the road on a #doro-mega-superstar level..........