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I've done a lot of dumb things in my life that up till now I hardly tell people about it.
Now here's one.
I grew In a family that loves church. My dad was among the leaders in church so almost every time we were always in church. At that time I was the last born of the house and also the one my parents pets a lot. I think I was six years old then.
On Sunday, as service was ongoing, also there was a big program in church that day so the crowd was much.
Usually as the last of the house after worshipping at the kids church I'll sneak into the adults church to be with my father. I loved my dad a lot. But on this particular day he didn't allow me to sit with him because he was so busy welcoming dignitaries and other duties assigned to him as the leader he was. So he asked me to go stay with my mum.
I knew it wouldn't be fun with mum because she hardly buys goodies as dad usually does so I declined. But he spanked me and asked an usher to take me to my mum. I cried profusely as I was carried out of the church by the usher to my mum who was seated in another section of the church.
Now my family church was known to pray and cure mentally ill people and no it wasn't a white garment church. Mind you I respect all denominations.
Back to the gist, as the usher carried me out of the church to my mum. Mum tried carrying me, calling me sweet names all to get me to stop crying and whining. But I quickly slipped out of her hands and walked out from where she was seated, my intention was to head back to where my dad was.
Just at the aisle, I saw a beautiful young lady smiling at me with arms stretched out. Yes I was still a kid but I could swear she was a beautiful woman. Her exact words
"Nwa oma ogini. Ngwa bia, ebezina, bia gwam onye kuru gi ihe"
"Fine boy. Stop cry, come and tell me who beat you"
Innocently, I walked right into her opened arms and she cuddled me. Like magic I stopped crying and was almost at the point of dozing off when I saw the chains on her feet. That was when I realised that the beautiful lady was actually mentally unstable.
Immediately, my mum came and took me off her hands. This time I didn't struggle because I got scared and needed to be saved. All through that day, I stayed with my mum till service was over.
Unrelated though:
As I grew and my understanding increased. I kept seeing the lady in church, as beautiful as before, but this time she had no chains in her again. Turns out that miraculously she was cured and she resorted to dedicating her life to the service of God.
I recall asking mum how such a beautiful lady got mentally ill. And she told me that nobody could really tell. But according to her parents the lady got engaged to be married and a few days before the wedding she woke up one day and she began misbehaving.