I like to think of myself as a person with a good sense of retrospection, I’m able to think of past events and understand what that meant to me and settle with whatever conclusion I found myself, in a way it explains my love for nostalgia, you might agree or not. Everything is open to different understanding after all.
Going by this, it makes sense that in almost all relationships, friendships or forms of companionship I’ve found myself, I always cling to the memories and feelings I experienced with the person or people involved. And somehow this has influenced my understanding of love and all that is attached. As someone who finds it very hard to express myself fully, talking about my fond memories with people feels like the perfect quantification of what my love language is.
Recently I put myself through a form of self-evaluation and after minutes of reliving moments, smiling at remembrance of feelings and emotions I have felt so far, I came to the realization that I am settled in wonderful and peaceful relationships with my friends and all my loved ones of course each with their quirks, to be fair no situation is perfect.
I love all my chomiis
In honor of my newly found understanding, I’ve decided to honor my memories of times where I experienced love and somehow, I feel like this might end in fresh joyful tears (cue the tear-jerking songs).
~ Good days by SZA
~ LOVE by Kendrick Lamar ft. Zacari
Love is when my sister whispered the comforting words, “you'll be fine, just stay here” before she ran out of the house to call for help from our neighbors when I hit my head on our tiled kitchen wall and got a bleeding forehead.
Love is when I had to go on errand runs with my dad and he got us roasted corn or groundnuts to snack on in the car and talk about random things on the way.
Love is when my mom noticed my sour mood during the day and came back to comfort me in the middle of the night even though it wasn't that much of a big deal.
Love is when I cried my eyes out seeing my sister leave the house to go to another state for JUPEB lessons.
Opening it up to others
From Pelumi,
Love is when I lost my phone and my friends got me a new one, including the friend I met just six months ago.
From Ikhmat,
Love is when my sisters trust me to take care of them especially when they are sick.
Love is when my sister loc'd my hair for free and re-locs it for free.99.
Love is when my brother will buy collection series/movies and wake me up in the middle of the night so we can watch it together.
Love is when I cried when my elder brother was resuming boarding school even though the beating that was coming was unknown to that little girl, regardless....
Love is when my mom and dad will call and message me just to check up on me and hear my voice because "Ikhmat does not call to talk".
Love is when my mom and dad told me they were proud of me when I graduated, bought and wore new attires for themselves and I to celebrate the day.
From Joan,
Love is when I had an asthma attack in the middle of a rainy night and my mom left the house to get me a Ventolin inhaler.
From Fareedah,
Love was when my friend wrote my notes for me during break time in JSS 1 because I was a slow writer.
Love was when my secondary school friend made a card for my birthday and years later when my University friends made a magazine for my birthday.
Love was when my mum and siblings planned a surprise birthday thing for me but I acted surprised because I knew.
Love was when I planned to get a birthday cake with my siblings for my mum and she found out and secretly called the baker to add money to our budget.
Love was when my neighbor took me to and fro work during my SIWES and kept looking out for me and defending me at work.