We all looked forward to traveling to our hometown for the Christmas holiday; it was the talk of the season. Everyone had their plans and could not stop talking about them. Some had other relatives they hoped to see and wished they would make their Christmas holiday a memorable one like they did the last time we spent time together. Since it was announced that we should all plan towards that, I bet I was not the only one that could not get my mind off it.
I also had expectations of why I wanted to travel back; the last time I traveled, I was able to make a few friends, and the distance between us was not doing our friendship any favors, and getting to meet them again, I felt, will strengthen our friendship, and at least I will be able to boast of a few friends from my hometown that are not in any way related to me, as they were the first people I had ever exchanged contact with from my hometown.
The time came to travel home on the 24th of December 2024. You can see smiles and excitement on everyone's face as we load up the trunk of my dad's car with everything we will be needing to make our stay more comfortable.
"Don't forget anything because I will not come back, and if you insist, I will drop you off and you will find your way to the village." My dad warned
"With this level of excitement and happiness, I doubt we will forget anything." Johnson, my brother, responded.
My mom and dad supervised as we moved stuff to the car and made sure that we did not forget anything, and finally it was time to take off. My mom said a short prayer, and then we were off. After about 6 hours we passed a signboard that said "Welcome to Abia State," and that gave us hope and brought back the excitement that had died down due to the stress of the journey, and now we knew we were a lot closer to our hometown and just needed to hang on a little longer. A few minutes later, we arrived our hometown, and like expected, cousins, uncles, and aunties had cleaned the house and were waiting in front of the house for us.
The moment we arrived, it was from this person's arm to another person's arm. Even though I don't really enjoy hugs, I could not escape that one; once this person is done hugging you, they pass you to the next person.
"You have grown so tall, little you I carried in my arms." One of the elderly men there said to my sister as he hugged her.
The reaction on my sister's face showed she did not like that comment, and we laughed at her, and it felt like the fun had started already.
We have a tradition: once we arrive at the village, we all make our way to go greet the eldest of the family since he is old and doesn't move around unless it is very important, and you have to give him that respect of coming to his house to greet him first and not wait until you are told.
"You all know the drill, right?" My mother asked
"What about the things in the trunk?" I asked.
"Your cousins will deal with that; let's go see Elder Okwara." My mom said as she put us all in front while she followed behind.
He was sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch of his house as we all greeted him. The chair was a recent development for us as we did not know the chair, but the moment my mom saw the chair, tears started rolling down her cheeks; she greeted him and also touched the chair in a way that showed she had a connection with the chair or the chair reminded her of something.
"You should not cry; I also did when I brought out the chair, but someone has to keep it warm." Elder Okwara said to her as the tears kept rolling down uncontrollably.
"I cannot help it; you just reminded me of our father, you using the chair and sitting on the front porch like he always does. You on the chair just reminded me of him. Coming back from school back then and meeting him on this chair was one of the things I looked forward to whenever I was on my way back from school." My mom said as she hugged him from the back.
"The chair is like one of his legacies; it was in the store, and I know what happens if it keeps staying there, so I decided to start using it and keeping it warm so nothing happens to the chair." Elder Okwara said as he held her hands wrapped around him.
"I never knew a chair could be this significant and hold so many memories until today." Esther elder Okwara's second daughter, said as she offered us food to eat.
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