I can remember how much I loved hearing adventure stories (During my childhood days), of real and fictional places and most especially, stories of people who did remarkable things.I remember how my mum would tuck me into bed every night and tell me bedtime stories which I loved so much .
But as I grew older, it seemed like it got harder for my parents to get stories that could really capture my imagination probably because of how demanding their work was. But then While strolling down our streets one evening, I got to know Mrs whitney. Mrs Whitney was a retired English teacher who lived on the far end of my street...she was a short woman, who had such twinkling eyes, and a always smiling face.
Sadly, she lost her husband 20 years ago according to her...but there was this cool thing about her. She was so lively, willing to chat with whoever walked up to her regardless of the person's age...she also was eager to learn new things even at her age. I also noticed her special love for children in the neighborhood. Whenever we Walked by her house in the evening, she would often call us to tell us stories that she had either heard or made up herself...the cool thing about the stories is that the stories were always very informative, and mind-thrilling. I can tell you the very first time I got to know her, I felt like I had found a hidden treasure.
One Friday evening, while I was strolling down our street with no exact destination, I saw her In Front of her house. Struggling to get a pile of books into her car's boot...I quickly rushed to be of help. I could tell she appreciated the kind gesture. Shortly after, she invited me into her house so she could get me one of the bobo juice she had left in her refrigerator she gave it to me, and sat next to me...As we both sat in her living room while I sipped the bobo juice, she told me some stories about her life as a teacher and the adventures she had over the years. But there was this story she told me that day that seemed to stick in my very tender brain that day.
It was the story of a very wealthy young man, who literally had more than enough money to buy anything he ever wanted but that left him, with what seemed like an evil spell of not being able to find a lady who loved him for who he was...he never found true love because, most of the ladies he met only wanted him for his money but he longed for something beyond that and so one day, he decided to disguise himself as a poor man
and began his journey of finding true love. He went from town to town, living as a poor man...this lasted for months, and it seemed like he was never going to find that honest lady...so he began to lose hope, and wondered if he would ever find her. But luckily for him not too long after, he met this lady who was kind and caring; she actually was the first among the other ladies, to see past his appearance, and recognise the goodness in him.
They fell in love and he revealed his true identity to her. She was surprised but not put off by his wealth. They lived happily ever after, and he knew that he had found true love at last.
As Mrs whitney rounded up with her story, she looked at me in the eyes and asked "Do you know what the biggest surprise of his life was?"...I shook my head eager to hear the answer...she said " the biggest surprise of his life was that he found the true love he had always wanted, right when he least expected it...that my dear is the greatest lesson of all".
I left Mrs Whitney's house that day, feeling uplifted and inspired. She also made me understand that day, that true love was not something you could buy with money. But rather something that came from the heart.
