Good morning my fellow ladies in the ladies of hive community, hope you all had a great weekend. This is just my second weekend running in the community but i have been so much impacted and am getting to get a solid footing in my business, thanks to your advices and encouragements.
This will be my first contest in the community and am very glad to be a part of it.
This particular song Am Alive By Celine Dion has gotten hold of me since i was Eight. A certain incidence happened at home that left me in pains for weeks on end and an shortly before i got out of the pains, i heard this song and it never left my heart since then.
One fateful morning, my mother who was a petty trader left for her daily rounds of hawking which she does every morning from 8:00am to 5pm or 6pm depending on how fast she sold her wares. My father who was then a security man for a certain government office was home alone with me, my immediate elder brother and my immediate younger sister. He was frying yams for breakfast. Then we lived in a single room as most low income earning families in Nigeria do. We had our kerosine stove in a corner of the room and that is were we do most of our breakfast cooking except in the afternoon or evening where we make use of the stone tripod and firewood. He has just put in the second set of yams cut into slices when an old colleague of his from work came in on a visit, i still remembered vividly the way my Dad was excited on seeing him and judging from the frequent handshakes, i knew they had not met for a long time. After the exchange of pleasantries and dozens of handshakes, my Dad decided to go out to a store nearby to get him a bottle of malt (it was the most expensive and most respectable soft drink any low income family can offer a visitor), i think my Dad delayed a little and the yams on fire began to get burnt, then my elder brother went close to examine it and probably get the frying pan down. I remembered him touching the steel handle and wincing in pain. I move closer and grabbed the handle in a bid to help but when i felt the heat i fumbled with it and the pan turned over and spilled it contain on my right leg, starting from my shin down to my foot, scalding it badly.
The pain immediately was so unbearable and intense that i still feel cold shivers running down my spine when i look at the scar on my foot and remembered the incident. When my father came back, he almost ran mad with anger at my brother for drawing me close but after a little explanation from the visitor, he calmed down a bit and rushed me to a nearby clinic.
That period was hell for me. It happened during the dry season in Nigeria and its normal that because of the dry wind and abundance of flies in northern Nigeria during the dry periods, injuries especially open ones do not get healed that easily. As a result of this, my parents have to clean it daily, morning and evening with hot water sprinkled with salt. Every sunrise met me sad because of what i knew was coming and every sunset harbours the same feeling. Most times, when the pain gets too much, i do pass out and when i eventually regain consciousness, i will wake up to see my mother with tears in her eyes staring down at me. Those three to four weeks were laced with pains. When i could walk although with the aid of a stick, i will hobble round the compound then return to take my seat usually at the from of our room. One day, shortly before i got completely healed save for the scars i still bear on my shin and foot, we were watching a program on NTA (Nigeria Television Authority) and during their commercial break, they happened to play that song, Am alive, it immediately got hold of me, whenever she says the Am Alive words, i felt elated and glad as if it was song to mark my recovery and survival.
My favourite line is;
**When you bless the day** **i just drift away**" **all my worries die** **I 'm glad that I 'm alive** (**culled from**: **Celine Dion**-**Am alive**)Ever since then, the song had been my best and most listened to song. And years down the line now and every dry season, November to be precise, when i see myself, a grown young lady, although not yet fulfilled but not helpless either, i say my thanks to God and am glad that, AM ALIVE.
I would have added a picture of the scar but it may not be discrete and it might be irritating to some so I will just leave it out but be rest assured it does not look that bad now. But a closer look at the right foot just below the ankle in this picture shows it more bearably.
[Photo by me]
Am inviting @tess100