There are times when gifts from friends or loved ones can be so important to us that we find it hard to let it go even after it's been time-worn. We don't care about it's physical appearance or how long we've had it, it just seems so difficult to let it go.
I had a similar gift given to me by a friend. We both attended the same school and back then I was not fond of wearing skirts. I preferred gowns and mostly trousers.
Then there came a time when we were to have our teaching practice practical course. It's a very important course as it helps us have a practical example of how our teaching practice would be and it's a must for everybody to pass this course.
For this course, we were divided into groups and we have supervisors assigned to each group.
The assessment by these supervisors is one of the key to us passing the course and one of the criteria required of us is to always dress appropriately. For females, we were to wear a long-sleeved shirt and a skirt with shoes whenever we are to have our presentations.
While some supervisors in other groups weren't that strict with the dress code as long as the students in their group dressed smart, ours was not the case as we are meant to comply with these dress codes, and as you all have guessed yours truly don't have a single skirt in her wardrobe.
" What am I going to do with this skirt issue?", I complained to my friend Bukola who is also my coursemate but we were not in the same group which means she is free to wear whatever she is comfortable with as long as it is presentable.
"Don't worry before Thursday something might come up and you will be able to buy yourself one", she reassured me. Things weren't so expensive then yet I couldn't afford to buy myself a skirt because things are very tight at home and I am barely managing to attend lectures and get by every day.
Time passed by quickly and before I knew it, it was already Wednesday and I still didn't have a skirt to wear for our group teaching practical. I had no choice but to ask around for anyone with a skirt to spare and a lady who was a friend to one of our mutual friends promised to help me bring one along with her when coming the next day.
The following day which was Thursday, I was already in school wearing my shirt and trouser, waiting for the lady who promised to help me with a skirt. When she came around, on sighting me, she exclaimed indicating she had forgotten as she was preparing for a test they were to have that day.
She apologized and promised to go back to her hostel and help me bring it after her test. We are to start the teaching practical by noon and it's just 8a.m which means I still have about 4 hours left.
When it was about 10 a.m, My friend and I went in search of the lady in her department but she was nowhere to be found. All attempts to reach her proved abortive and I resigned to my fate.
I had only hoped Mr Josu who was our supervisor would reduce my marks as my punishment for not complying with the dress code instead of preventing me from taking part altogether.
By 11:50 a.m. we were all making preparations and were already at our various auditoriums waiting for our supervisors when Bukola ran towards me with a brand-new skirt. I couldn't believe my eyes and before I inquired as to how she got it, she explained that she had asked her aunt whom she stays with to help her buy a skirt from the market her aunt went to that day.
She said she didn't tell me as she didn't know if her aunt would make it in time and she didn't want to disappoint me if she didn't. I couldn't hold myself and I hugged her and was thanking her. I aquickly looked for a place to change and she saw it looked good on me before she quickly hurried back to her own auditorium.
She came through for me at the last minute and I am always thanking her for that. Need to say it became my favorite skirt as it was my first skirt anyway. Though I got more skirts after that but I cherished this one so much.
It's been years now and I have worn it, amended it and wore it still. Now the color on it looks faded and it's no longer my size. Whatever I look at the skirt,seeing as it's not fitting me like it used to, I will feel perhaps it was "time" to let it go but I don't know if I could.
Thank you all for reading.
The Images used is mine.