There is a saying that "the mystery of life is not to be solved but a reality to be experienced".
Growing up, I used to believe things always follow a systematic process and when it does not, I tend to ask a series of questions.
"Mummy, why is the small boy dead? He is not old. I thought he is supposed to grow up and grow old before he dies ?" I would ask my mother.
"Hush, we can't question God, only He has the answers as to why he died at a tender age", she would reply to me.
"Ha, Mummy how did Aunty Cecilia have a baby, She is not married na", I would ask her another day.
" You this girl, your mouth will not put you in trouble one day". She would warn me.
I think it got to a point where she became tired of my incessant questions, so I stopped asking her but I never stopped wanting to know.
An incident happened one day that indeed led me to trouble, I would have asked my mum but I felt she wouldn't give me the answers I needed, so I decided to find the answers myself.
I noticed that the moon is always present wherever I am and I intended to find out where it would end (i.e. where it will get tired and stop following me)
I could recall I was around 9 or 10 years old then, I told my friend who is also my neighbor about my plan and we thought of a day when we could hatch our plan.
Fortunately or rather unfortunately for me, my parents were out one day and would come back very late so I was at my neighbor's which made it easy for both of us.
We both decided that day would be perfect so we waited till night, my friend's mum was preparing food, so we sneaked out and started our journey. We walked and kept walking and still, we saw that the moon kept following us. It was too late before we realized that we had walked a very long distance so we decided to turn back and head back home and maybe continue another day.
We were almost close to the house when we heard someone call both our names and we answered.
"We have found them", the voice replied, I looked up and saw that it belonged to one of our neighbors. Apparently, the whole neighborhood has been looking for us.
My mum was back and was almost "running mad" as they said because she couldn't find me. They asked where we coming from and before we could say, Jack, I felt a hot slap on my cheek.
People around interceded on my behalf and told my mom to be grateful they found me for that was the most important thing.
I was very tired and in pain from the slap I received. They asked us where we were coming from and we narrated the whole thing. One of our neighbors replied that we can never see the end we hope to find as the moon will always be present wherever we are. My mom asked me why I didn't just ask her instead and before I could reply, she knew herself that she had been waving most of my questions or not even giving me an answer I could understand.
My mom thanked everyone and we both went home. The next day, she sat me down and explained to me that some things in life cannot be explained and she doesn't have the answers to everything. She further warned me of the dangers of going out at night and all that. I apologized to her and Promise to ask her instead of trying to find out myself.
Ever since that incident, my mom doesn't leave me with anyone until I am old enough to stay at home myself.
As I grew older, I realized that life itself is a mystery and no matter how much we try, we can't get answers to everything in this world but that doesn't mean we should stop asking questions.
I always wondered if I could go back in time to tell my younger self some of the things I know now, would things change for the better or worse? I don't even know what will happen to me in the future but I believe that it's best to take things one step at a time.
Thank you all for reading.