AFTER A YEAR

 

My baby—this blog, is a year old today!

I don't remember why I chose the 16th of November to be her birth date <I hope I eventually do>, but 16th November has become a very special date to me.

This is not the usual blogpost. It is an appreciation post. 

I 

I am grateful first and as it should be, to God, for everything.

II

I am grateful to myself, for writing, for being willing to be vulnerable, for writing softness, for learning to believe in me.

When I started this blog and noticed my pattern of writing, I was a bit disappointed. I was disappointed because I realised that I was destined to be a simple writer, even though I have always wanted to be a sophisticated one; I wanted to write speculative fiction and use a lot of fancy words in my writing like anachronism, animadversions, magniloquent, and sound really intelligent, however, this blog wasn't created for magniloquence and while I may be made out to be an anachronism or receive a lot of animadversions<me dun finally use 'em fancy words that do usually saunter around mi mind, hehe>, 

this blog was created to tell relatable stories from the point of view of an average Nigerian girl; the type of girl that would pronounce fork as ferk, that would put an "r" consonant sound in odd places and tap her letter T when she wants to say water to feel more like a part of this world, the type of girl with a life too bland for TV dramas and too exciting to be believable. 

I am grateful to myself for coming to terms with the purpose of this blog and keeping my grandiloquent aspirations at bay <at least for the time being, heheheehhe>.

There are the "Oh my God, I am so brilliant" moments and the "I am bottom barrel garbage" moments, no in-betweens. I think it takes a lot of courage to adapt to the constant motion between the highs of the mountain and the lows of the valley without getting exhausted and wanting out, so, today, I'm giving myself a pat on the back and a kiss on the cheek. 

I still think that I am a mediocre writer on most days <I do not intend to remain mediocre though> and I cannot bear to read most of the things I have written, and I fear that I overshare sometimes but today is not the day for those kind of ruminations. Today, I'm only full of gratitude. 

III

I am grateful for family. My family members have played such major roles in my creative journey, it would be criminal to not give any credit.

There's my parents with their "jisike" and my sister that always has something interesting to say about the pieces I post to make me laugh, she roots for me in the sweetest ways and I absolutely adore her.

I have super-duper amaaaazing cousins too and uncles and aunties that let me know when they've read something that they enjoyed and tell me things they look forward to seeing me write about. There are no words for the love and appreciation for them. 

IV 

I am grateful for the gift of friendship<thinking about my friends makes me tear up a bit>.

From my "hello, hi" friends to my inner circle A-team—I am beyond thankful for them all.

My friends have no idea how good they make me feel when they share my blog links or leave comments or point out typos or start conversations about points I have raised in previous blog posts. I love them with all my strong-like-ponmo Igbo woman heart, hehehe. 

V

I am grateful for you that is reading this. I do not say this in the way of affectation but it means a lot to me that you are reading this. Thank you!

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