For May, Twelve Years a Friend…

It’s about an hour to midnight of May 1st. That’s when I pick up my laptop to write this. I’m not even sure how to craft it. There’s just so many thoughts running through my mind.
Twelve years. That’s how long I’ve known her. That’s how long we’ve been friends. Twelve years. And I still remember what drew her to me. Tomboyish. Crazy. Much fierce. Plenty focused. Very stubborn. Very confident. Sprinter. Energetic. Amazing dancer. Voice that can bring down heaven. LOL
She’s still all these and a little more. Well, a little less tomboy sha. She’s a lovely young woman now.
Today, I open the book of remembrance for this girl who has been solid beside me for twelve years.
1. I remember how I was young with a bad case of inferiority complex. I did not think of myself as pretty or talented. May said to me “inner beauty is what is most important. And that’s something you have.” My self-esteem was boosted by that simple truth.
2. May is the reason I started writing. It was the second year of our friendship. She had written something. A play, I think. And I told myself, May can do it, then I can do it too.
3. May was the one person I got into trouble with the most in school. The teacher was gonna punish me for something, May had to be involved somehow. Directly or indirectly. Don’t get it twisted. We served the punishments together. May was proof of ‘your best friend would be right beside you in jail saying ‘dang! We messed up!’”
4. May stuck up for me always. She has always protected me like her life depended on it. LOL. I kid you not. The number of times she came to my defense in secondary school? Countless. Even if I was wrong, she’d back me up in public then scold me in private.
5. May, my partner-in-sprints. I remember how by the end of our six years, we were the fastest sprinters in our house. We did all the sprints and relay races together. We really should go running sometime soon. Been forever.
6. May taught me that friendship is not a competition. It’s about balancing each other out, accommodating flaws, celebrating strengths…
7. May never ever let a boy come between us. Funny how that’s nearly always an issue between girls. But it was never something between us. Did we ever like the same guy at the same time? Probably not. I just know we never fought over a boy.
8. I remember when I had to go off to the university. That was the longest we were ever apart. It was crazy. When I lost touch with most people, May remained connected to my soul. A stubborn knot that would never loose.
9. When old friends complained they’d been abandoned, May simply waited for me. Like the watchmen would wait for the morning. And when I returned. We picked up where we left off. No drama. No serenre.
10. May has seen it all. My highs, my lows, my anger, my madness, everything. I remember the one major fight we had. I thought she said something hurtful about me behind my back and I did not speak to her for a long, long time. We made up. And that was the first and last time we ever had a fight that huge.
11. Ahh. May has never tired to listen to me talk. And if you know me well, then you know I LOVE to talk. Only a true friend will listen as attentively as she does.
12. May is my one in a million. My ride or die chic. My solid behind the scenes girl. My bird of the same feather. May is my best friend of twelve years. May is a year older today.
So for twelve years, you have been my friend. If we survived this far, then nothing can ever keep us apart. So yes, I posted on my blog about you as my birthday gift to you. And this better make you blush o. That your heart that you like to harden like akpu must melt today. Hehe. And like I told you, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be in the world than right beside you at the auditions today. Yes, I love you enough to do the craziest things with you and for you.
Happy birthday babe. Like you love to say “we’re growing old!”
For Efe May Okanigbe, Twelve years a friend…