tansali paparazzi

                                                    sometimes we take for granted  those  little blessings that come our way, we forget that no matter what we are going through in life there are so many people that we are still better than,  that alone  should make us grateful at all times. we go to bed every night & wake up in the morning & we take it for granted, feeling that we have a right to that for existing,  we eat when we feel hungry & we take that for granted, we have shelter & recoil in the house any time we feel like it, we are healthy & strong, we move about freely, we have our freedom.

                                       have you ever imagined not being able to breathe in air? could you just imagine losing any part of your body? God forbid! as a beautiful model, could you imagine not being able to afford that moisturizer & having fat ugly looking pimples on your beautiful face? as a rich guy could you just imagine losing that contract &  going broke, living from hand to mouth all of a sudden? these are not imaginable, we don't wish for that.

                                  there are some people who slept & never woke up, we should be grateful to the surpreme being for keeping us each time we wake up in the morning. there are some people who can not feed because they can not afford to get what to eat, some can afford what to eat, but they can not feed because they are passing through some medical conditions, some have tubes been fixed into them through their anus to pass food into their system. some people don't have an abode, they roam about, wondering from one place to the other, retiring anywhere the night meets them, for the  night cap.

                                   if you've ever gone hungry before & couldn't get something to eat, then you'll appreciate it when you have food on your table any time you need it. if you've ever got stranded & slept on the streets, then you'll appreciate that shelter you have now. if you've ever gone to the hospital & saw how some people are suffering from terminal diseases then you'll appreciate your health & life the more, if you've ever broken a leg & couldn't walk for a while then you'll appreciate it when you could afford to stand with that leg. most things we take for granted are things that are usually free but are vital to our existance.

                               no matter what any body could be passing through remember that there are people you are still better than & show an appreciation to the surpreme being who has kept you & protected you thus far. nobody has it all, even the rich also cry, so show appreciation for those little blessings that you get & let nature bless you with more. count your blessings & name them one by one & see what nature has blessed you with & it will surprise you to realise how much your treasures are really worth.

                               i remember when i lost my sister, i was so heart broken. i never imagined in my wildest dream that  nnonye my beautiful sister, would die so suddenly without any slightest notice. nnonye was the beauty of the family, her beauty was used as a positive reference case in my home town. anyone who saw her, commented on her beauty &  i loved her so much.

                                            she was my elder sister & we were close, she was such an angel, she could give out every thing she had just to put a smile on the face of any broken individual. i remember when her husband made her cry & she called me to come over to her place, i got there  & when i saw those tears on her face i hated that man with a passion instantly,  but they eventually made up & i left for school.  

                                        she knew i loved her & admired her greatly, but i regret not saying those sweet words to her, i regret not telling her how much i loved her, how much i adored every step she took, how much i missed her when i left home for school. when she wanted me to stay with her in her husband's house  & i refused vehemently, i regret not telling her that it was because i couldn't bear to see her in pain when her in-laws treated her the way they did,  i couldn't let her know that though i was happy she found love i still wished she was not taken away in marriage by the husband. i regret not telling her how beautiful she looked even when she cried.

                                           there is this my favourite proverb that says "you should appreciate a beautiful flower as it blossoms, because the sun might smite it & it loses it's valour" and another one "i remember when i took your car on the road & wrecked it, i thought you'd be livid & come down hard on me, but you didn't. i remember when we went to the beach & you didn't want to go because you said it was going to rain, we went & it rained. i was sure you'd rub it in & say, ' i told you so!' but you didn't. then there was the time i spilled blueberry  juice down the front of your new white tux, i knew you'd be upset & blame me, but you didn't & i remember that formal evening,  i was mistaken & told you it was casual, you wore blue jeans & you felt like a fish out of water when we got there, i was sure you'd storm out in anger &  leave me standing there, but you didn't. 

                                        "when i made up my mind to tell you how much i loved you & appreciated you for all those things you've done for me when i returned home from where i went to, for a peace keeping mission, but when i came back, i didn't meet you & never saw you again, i never had the opportunity to tell you how much i loved & appreciated you &  i miss you now &  forever". 

                                          there is always time to speak, but it's a limited time & when it's over,  it's gone forever. don't spend your future regretting & carrying inside you the unspoken words someone needed to hear. pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul & healing to the bones. wait no longer speak the word, few things are as powerful as the right words spoken at the right time, by the same token words withheld when their season of opportunity is gone, are a heavy burden to live with.hold those words no longer, speak it into those ears that deserve to hear it, now that you have the opportunity.

                             this is in memory of my late beautiful sister NNONYE. i miss you, mum misses you, the whole family miss you, you left & took your beautiful smiles with you.

                             REST IN PEACE, NNONYE.

                            he was called 'the bull' but his real name was theophilus. he was married with two boys, though he had not planned to stop at two kids but the doctor adviced the wife to put a stop to child bearing for some medical reasons. he loved his family & provided  greatly for them, he never allowed any lack as long as he can afford  it. he did not allow the wife to work or trade, he said the burden of being a mother & a wife was already a huge task on it's own & he wouldn't want to add more on her tender shoulder & the wife accepted the arrangement & stayed at home, a full time house-wife.

                             theophilus, was a manager in one of the new generation banks, he was a good man, loved by his colleagues, family & friends, he assisted some of his friends to secure loans at the bank & with his influence assisted some of his family members & friends to secure employment in different sectors of the economy. he had put 15 years of his life to the banking sector & he knew his onions when it came to finance. 

                               unfortunately, things did not remain the same for him, for long.  without knowing how it happened,  a fraud was commited in his bank, involving a huge amount of money & since he was the manager in charge
fingers were pointed at him, after a thorough & solid investigations, he was arrested, charged to court,  convicted & sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour. 

                           after a year of visiting & taking food to him at the prison, his wife stopped visiting. he tried to send word to her, he got no reply, he stopped receiving visitors, nobody cared enough to visit him in the prison yard, his friends deserted him & he didn't know what happened to his wife. he stayed at the prison a lonely sad man. on the third year of serving his sentence, the government granted him & some other in-mates amnesty, even that, did not bring a smile to his once robust & handsome face.

                              on the day he was to be discharged, there was nobody to welcome him out of the prison yard, into his just regained freedom. he was the more disillusioned. but he mustered courage & decided to go to his house. he got to the place & it seemed deserted. he walked on & pushed the door, it was ajar, he entered into the house & it was empty, no furniture, no single soul in the building. every where was empty. he sat on the bare floor & wept like a child. he knew in his heart that he was innocent of that fraud & he also knew that it was a framed work done by his enemies to destroy him, he wept the more, when he was done, he stretched out on the floor & fell into a deep slumber.

                              consequently, theophilus recovered slowly, he learnt from his wife's family that his wife took the kids, packed all the property they had in the house & relocated to another city & her family refused to give him the address of the new place, at least to see his boys. theophilus is still finding it hard to believe that his lovely wife could have the heart to treat him that way.

                            when i heard this man's story, i shed buckets of tears, i couldn't imagine a wife well provided for, when the going was good, abandoning the husband when he needed her the most. well i can only say to theophilus, take heart & be a man, the lord shall surely vindicate you, the truth will surely come out someday. i can only say that your wife does not deserve a good man like you, you shall meet that woman who will trully love & appreciate you greatly.

                            AND to all the men that got abandoned by their wives just because things turned around for bad for you, be rest assured that the lord shall surely remember you for HIS great blessings from above, don't be distressed, remember that after the rain comes the sunshine. it shall get better.

                                 

                      
                                                            

                                     Sometimes in life there are decisions we make that can either mar us or make us, some of these decisions have to do with other peoples' influence in our lives or  our own free self-willed desire. a man that allows people to think for him, can not really call himself a free man. how can a man be free if he does not think for himself, people who are bound to the influence or suggestions of other people, be it subtle or direct are slaves to those people. it is always a wise thing to have a mind of your own.

                                          As whitney houston sang in one of her songs, the greatest love of all, " i've decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadow if i fail,  if i succeed, atleast i'll live as i believe". well some people could be wondering how one can live without taking advice from other people, one can listen to some peoples' advice & then weigh the pros & cons, before embarking on their proposed venture, if they are not certain of the particular road, which they are about to tread on, but it is not everyone we should give access into our lives, we should be mindful of the kind of people we allow to speak  into our lives.

                                           we should thrive to be our own person, don't be a photocopy of  someone's original, be the original you & let people admire you for that uniqueness which you exibit, which no one else can be able to comprehend, no matter what you think you  look  like, you have that unique thing about you, which no other individual can  be able to copy.

                                           BE YOURSELF, BE ORIGINAL & BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE.

        i remember when a friend of mine lost her young husband, it seemed she had come to her own end. onyinye, got married, when she was  in her second year, at the university. her husband was a jand guy, who just came back from canada, to get himself a wife. he fell in love with onyinye & without wasting time, he rushed her to the altar & they were married, pronto!

          before she got to her final year she gave birth to their first child, a baby girl. her husband, uche got her a brand new car & a palatable apartment, then he travelled back to his base, with the assurance that when onyinye graduates, she will join him over there, at canada. onyinye, was thankful that GOD blessed her with such a man as uche for a husband.

           when onyinye, was on her national service (NYSC),  she decided to visit her mother-in-law & beg her to come to lagos with her  to help her take care of her daughter. the mother accepted & came, for the time the mother-in- law was with her, it was all hell for her, she thought she was doing the woman a favour by bringing her to lagos & taking care of her, but she only succeeded in bringing miseries into her  life.

         it continued when she finished her primary assignment, till her husband came back. uche's mother refused that her son will take his wife to canada with him, there was a long fight because of that at the end, uche was adament that he's taking his wife with him whether the mother liked it or not & this didn't  go down well with his mother & she left for the village angrily.

             the next thing that happened was that uche fell sick & never recovered. he died & that was the beginning of onyinye's suffering. she was sent out of her husband's house & they took the car from her, her late  husband's family maltreated her & at the end took her daughter from her, saying she's the only memory they have of their son & told her to go back to her parents house, that they don't need her anymore.

                 onyinye, at the moment is trying to come back to life as she terms it & i want to use this medium to say to her that the lord that gave her life will surely see her through & help her to carry this cross & very soon, she shall smile again & the laughter of victory shall be her portion.

                      to all the widows out there, be courageous, no matter what you are going through now, just know that the good lord will never leave you lonely, HE shall always be by your side to console & comfort you, in whatsoever you are passing through.

                                  BE BRAVE! BE STRONG!! & BE HAPPY!!!.
                                  NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT, IT SHALL SURELY GET BETTER
 SOMEDAY!