A LITTLE BIT OF HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...

I had no plans to blog this week, then something happened to me!

When I posted blog last week, I did something different…. while forwarding blogpost to my usual Whatsapp‘RisiByName’ broadcast list, I added another name, ‘Dayo’ a friend who is also a former Naija Law school classmate of mine.  When Dayo received the post, he immediately popped up in my Whatsapp chat acknowledging receipt and saying hi. I apologised for forwarding blog to him with no introduction as it was the 1st time.  He said no worries and we continued from where we left our last conversation earlier in the year, when he asked whether I would like to join our law school Whatsapp group; I replied ‘Bring it on’.


He pre-warned me that at times it can get rather heated on the forum and I told him that was no problem at all as he should see my University Alumni Whatsapp group and that I was sure The Law School one would be tame in comparison.

I did mention to him that my only reservation about joining the group was that I had a very bad memory and a problem of not remembering people; even friends that I had not seen in years, he said that was no problem as it happens to all of us. I explained to him that there would likely be good friends of mine that I would not remember and that I was worried that they’d think I'm posing if I tell them I can't remember them. He once again assured me there was no issue.

So within the next few minutes one of the Whatsapp group ‘admin’ had added me to the group followed by an introduction to the group and then the greetings started. Lots of familiar names and saying hi and welcoming me. I must say it was a warm experience, the messages pop up ‘OlaSule you are welcome, long time etc!' And yes the names were familiar though I could not put faces to some of them. Mind you it had been 28 years since I'd seen some other these guys.

 

     Me In The Middle With My Buddies

Anyways I'm politely informed that it was forum policy for new members to send in a photograph, so they can put a face to a name….which actually made sense to me. After an initial meltdown with kicking and screaming and telling Dayo I didn't want to, I decided to bite the bullet and stop being a killjoy. I start trawling through images of myself on my phone and eventually settled for recent relaxed one of me sitting in armchair at home, make-up free, hair looking rough, a bit sweaty, no filter and not complimentary in the least!! Why did I do this….I don't know, I think I was ‘forming’ humility or something 🙈  
When some of my former class mates see my ‘babyface’ on forum the comments roll in ‘Ola Sule na your face be this' etc. It was fun saying hi to them all. So much for my fears about not remembering people right?

The welcomes are rolling in on the forum and I'm replying people individually and greeting them through the afternoon. Then towards the end of the day I receive a direct message from someone
‘Hi Ola, it is A.O’  the name is ever so familiar, thank God for Display picture (herein after referred to as DP) sorry I just had to legalise that part! I quickly zoom in and there is this pretty girl, I'm thinking to myself wow she looks so young and pretty. But I cannot remember her at all. So I tell myself  ‘Ola you gotta bluff this one’, I quickly reply ‘Hello AO’ and she replies “how have you been, always wondered where you are, just saw you on law school group, good to see your face’
I reply “Great to see you too, you look the same and so young and pretty no ageing in sight’
The next reply I receive is ‘Is my photo here, or do I look like a girl ?’
My people.....lying is not good oh…..the penny drops, person in DP is not person I'm chatting with. I bite the bullet and say ‘Oh dear that’s your daughter in DP right?  AO (obviously a guy!!!) replies ‘Yes’.
Next question is ‘Ola you don't remember me do you?’ To which I raise my hands and confess 😩😢😱🙈

I ask him to send me pic to jog my memory, which he does and only then do I make the connection that it is A.O. my bestie of life! After a good laugh and lot of back and forth on Whatsapp it is established AO is a real legit buddy of mine from back in the day! In fact as we exchange stories of our escapades we both recount an incidence that once happened in Law school.  

Dress code was strictly formal, we were not allowed to dress casual. Myself…. forever one to push boundaries, one day I looked at the size of the auditorium and thought to self ‘Ola you should be able to pull off launching those smart new knee length khaki pair of shorts mum bought from ‘the abroad’ with a white crisp shirt and pair of brogues’. My reasoning was, after all it's not as if any lecturer can see me from where they stood at podium and even if they did it would take them forever to spring up the stairs and reach me where I sat (forever a backbencher).

So next day I'm strutting my stuff and rocking these shorts getting lots of attention (for the wrong or right reason is the jamb question!) I'm feeling very hip. I visit library, leave my books and briefcase (Law school was all about ‘The briefcase’!) and decide to go on a jolly ‘wakajugbe’ (walk) to look for my friend AO. As I reach bottom step of library, I bump into one of the most dreaded lecturers (I WILL NOT MENTION NAMES HERE) He looks into my eyes then down to my shorts, up to my eyes then back down to my shorts again and does a double take….. I thought he was going to faint: ‘Young lady are you not aware of the dress code of The Nigerian Law School, shorts are prohibited (I’m thinking; Oga Rasheedi, ‘prohibited’ kè? Na alcohol?) can you kindly accompany me to my office…there will be consequences for this your action…’

Omo alarm don blow, 'yekpa' my law degree is about to blow up in flames, I'm thinking ‘Apostle will hear this!!!’. So what do you think I did?

I looked straight in his eyes and said to him ‘I am not a student here sir….’
The lecturer squints and says ‘Young lady…I beg your pardon, you say what?’
I continue to hold his gaze and repeat ‘I'm not a student here….I'm just visiting a friend’
I'm thanking my stars that my briefcase is in library, I quickly glance up to the stairs that led to the  library I'm praying AO will not come skipping along busting my cover with a ‘Hi Ola’ in front of this lecturer.

Lecturer glaring at me says  ‘Young lady are you telling me you are not a student here, but I know this face (moral of this story here my people “There Is Safety In Large Numbers”!!!) I tell him I'm not. He shakes his head and says a curt ok and walks away then turns back stares at me hard and shakes his head again. Once he's out of sight I start breathing😂. Not long after I 'locate' AO and give him the low of what has just gone down!

I spent the rest of the year on ‘Dodge-lecturer-watch’ I knew if I ever stumbled upon him again it was curtains for me, literally The End😩😢😇. I never wore those shorts again nor met him until the day I was Called To Bar, our eyes met and he just shook his head…My enrolment to the bar certificate was firmly in my hand and kitted in my wig and gown I gave him an award winning smile!                                        

So you can see the whole not remembering AO turned out well and was not that deep, he actually ignited all these fond memories right?

Then on Wednesday a Whatsapp alert…message appears “OlaSule, hope all is well, best regards JK” Hmmmmm this time the Whatsapp DP has no photo 😩😢😡. Though come to think of it after the AO tale, Who DP help?’
The ‘JK’ name is very familiar, so I'm brainstorming, should I tell person their name is familiar but I don't remember them and ask them to send pic or do I just bluff it again. I then remember my friend ‘Google’ and decided to enter JK’s name there ( I don’t have facebook). The person’s image, LinkedIn etc pops up on screen, Partner law firm blah blah blah....yep I know this face very well but I have no recollection of how I was acquainted with them. I decided that honestly is the best policy so I Whatsapp JK telling them that I've just googled them, remember their face but nothing much more🙈.

JK replies saying we used to study together when preparing for Law school exams and mentioned the name of the 2 other people we studied with. I then had a moment….it was a dull distant memory but rather fuzzy and not too clear.

I replied JK that all the memories were coming back and that was last I heard of them as they did not reply and I left it that. I found I was not at ease all day though, I kept trying to recollect law exam period back then. It was very stressful, the pressure was immense as the results were published the Nigerian Daily papers imagine all the naysayers on stand by to say Mr & Mrs Sule's daughter's name did not appear in the paper!

Over the course of day snippets kept filtering through, distant memories of studying with JK and the 2 friends. But I could not remember the details. That night as I was in bed a major part of the jigsaw fell in placed.  I quickly sat up, whipped out phone and composed a Whatsapp message that I would be sending to JK the following morning (I don't send messages in middle of night unless I know for sure the person switches off the alert sounds) it read like this:

“Uncle JK…that is only half of the story you have given me oh, it has been flooding back since yesterday! Would you like to continue the story or should I?”

Next morning I pressed <<send>>
Whatsapp message was delivered to him.
He replied immediately.


This story is to be continued folk……
Let's thank God it's Friday, have a great weekend


Don't let your friends feel lonely……disturb them all the time.
💅🏾