They say hardwork pays, I support that notion. The irreplaceable feeling of pride swelling in my chest from having accomplished a certain goal I had been chasing after was what laced my cheeks with smiles and my heart with gratitude.
I sat back to munch on a bowl of small chops I had ordered to appreciate myself with while I reminisced on the events of the past four months. I had just gotten a writing job after submitting my resume on different platforms, hopefully checking my email day and night to see if anybody had been kind enough to send even a "Thank you for submitting your resume to us" reply but there was none.
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I even sent messages to my writer friends to pass on any spare job they had on their hands like we always did when any of us had too much jobs to handle, but in that season, they told me there was none.
Every message that came with an "I'm sorry, I would have loved to help" felt like poking all over again, the spot in my body where a needle had been inserted while medical treatment was administered to me a couple of weeks back.
The previous semester at school had been tough as my mom and I as we struggled to raise both my school fee for the session and my younger brother's West African Examination and UTME fees.
This semester, I promised I was going to pay my fees without my mom having to spend a dime, but as if my village people were challenging me to a dare, I didn't have any jobs forthcoming.
It wasn't until three weeks had passed with me submerging my disappointment with school work, hiding my tears and sorrows behind a mask of smiles and gleeful laughter and resigning to my fate that one of the many websites I had applied to sent me a congratulatory email.
I remember doing the kind of dance the bible describes as 'David's dance' then cleaning the dust off my laptop, and getting to work almost immediately.
It took four months of near sleepless nights juggling the social media management for an Instagram influencer with my writing job, along with days of painful starvations and deprivations to arrive at the entire amount for my school fees that session.
The highlight of it was when I placed a call across to my mother and broke the good news that she didn't have to worry about my fees for that session.
"Treasure, did you get a scholarship?" I could imagine that the grey armchair she loved sitting in would not be enough to contain her excitement so she would be on her feet. I chuckled.
"No mummy, I got two jobs and saved up to pay it"
The silence at the other end of the phone was disturbing but it only meant two things; she was either nursing a sob or she was nursing anger. The hiccups when she responded told me which one it was.
"God will bless you for me Treasure, as you have covered my shame, you will not see shame…" and so she went on showering me with blessings as was her custom.
I thought I was going to be relieved from financial stress for a while when the electric cooker I had been using to save myself from spending on gas got burnt.
If there was a word more than distraught, then I was that. It would take at least, another two months of saving to get the money to fix the cooker or get a new one altogether because of other daily expenses such as transport, feeding, utility bills and so much more that lined to snatch my salary each month upon collection.
I opted to manage the gas cooker while saving up for a new electric stove as that was the only option I had at the moment. That same day as I went out to fill the cylinder with gas, my brother in law called me.
"Smallie.." he referred to me like that because according to him, I was the smallest girl in the university. A fond smile creased my lips and eventually let out a childish giggle.
"Good afternoon sir"
I could almost quote what he was going to say next.
"You have forgotten me this small girl, You're now an independent woman so you've forgotten the hands that fed you" that drew hysterical laughter from me.
He went on with the playful guilt tripping for another 5 minutes before asking how I was faring. I gave him a short narration of what had occurred in the past four months, I heard him sigh but didn't expect his next question.
"How much is it to fix the stove?"
I told him and he just grunted. Few minutes later, I received the amount I told him with some extra cash. I didn't know when I dropped the cylinder on the main road to leap for joy. I rushed back home to drop the gas cooker and get my electric stove for repairs.
I have had many experiences in the short period I've become an adult, but some of them stick with me and serve as illumination for my path in subsequent times. Looking back on both experiences, I've realized that there are certain things you cannot get by luck, you have to push and pull to achieve them. But certain other things can easily be achieved and with the right form of assistance, can be achieved without need for stress.
