ALMOST HAPPILY EVER AFTER

 As a young girl, Obiageli wasn’t afforded the frivolities of what one could call ‘true love’, whatever she had with Azuka Godson had been premature and inherently ill fated. When they met for the first time at the Gilgamesh college library, she had believed it was love at first sight and Azuka presented her with everything she thought she wanted; or maybe just the fact he that too was Nigerian sealed the deal for her. Despite the tell tale signs that he was an aloof spirit with no sense of commitment, Obiageli had held on to the relationship and hoped for the best. She had found out she was pregnant with Zona on one of the many nights Azuka went out and returned inebriated, not knowing whether she should feel happy or sad as regarding the child growing inside her. She had seen - accepted the relationship for what it was very late unfortunately, and she was sure it was only a matter of time till Azuka walked out on them. When he finally decided to get help and try sobriety for the sake of the child on the way, Obiageli couldn’t quite shake the feeling of ‘when will the other shoe drop’, she prayed for the best for the sake of her child and nursed her animosity in silence. 

The reverend winced as he got back up with a smug grin of a school boy who had just received an extra piece cake for besting the entire class in arithmetic. “Of course I will marry you, this is where I am at my happiest, why would I give it up?” she said trying hard not to sound like an 18 year old, she threw herself into the reverend’s arm and embraced him tightly; he looked down at her and kissed her lavender shampooed hair. It smelled wonderful to his senses; he imagined it was what the rest of their lives together would smell like.

They had forgotten the cheering audience at the door, Zona, who was nothing but genuinely happy for her mother dearest; she deserved it all. Life for her will definitely begin at 41, with Albert.

“Am not letting you walk down the aisle with just lip gloss if that is what you are getting at, it is after all your special day and you should be able to feel special” Zona continued, prepared for the impending battle of words her mom was ready to unleash; not that she would win anyway. She had set out to give Obiageli a full face makeover and that is what she hoped to achieve. For a teenager that worked after school hours in a hardware store Zona knew quite a considerable amount when it came to makeup and fashion, well thanks to Ashley who was only too willing to lend Zona her extensive makeup collection. “Am not exactly a spring chicken, am 41” Obiageli retorted. “I think this whole fan fare would have been nice maybe 10 years ago, I just want to make it to my wedding on time and marry the love of my life today Zona” she continued with a hint of resignation;, if she knows her daughter but at all, she should know it was a lost battle and should just surrender her face to the self declared stylist.

 From the day Obiageli accepted Albert’s ring, Zona had thrown herself into planning her mom’s wedding together with her ‘bff’ Ashley. In barely two weeks, they had been able to put the whole thing together. Obiageli had been specific about the things she wanted and the way she wanted them; she was able to get away with few, with the others, Zona wouldn’t budge. Those included the entire outlook from hair to nail polish and everything in between. At the end, Obiageli only had her way with the menu of the dishes to be served to the few guest they had invited which consisted mostly of her relatives and that of Albert’s. And of course most importantly her choice of groom, There was absolutely no debating that part.

...see you Monday...

Foot note: Happy weekend to you my darling idoodlers, hope you had a fabulous week. Thanks again for taking a chance on ijustdoodle. I dont think I will ever get tired of expressing my gratitude to you all for viewing, sharing and commenting.
I may have been able to work out a post schedule, I decided Mondays and Saturdays will work best but anyone who feels otherwise is free to say so via mail so that we can jointedly work out what works best.
Have a fabulous weekend loves.

EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT, HUGE HAT FEMALES OF LITTLE HOUSE BAPTIST!

“Seriously Zona, don’t you think the eye shadow is a tad much?, I look like a different person entirely I hope Albert recognizes me” Obiageli wasn’t in the least comfortable with what she believed was a ‘heavy makeup’ but Echezonachukwu wouldn’t have it any other way, it was her mother dearest’s wedding day and she vowed she would die before she let the woman walk down the aisle wearing just lip smack and an old mismatching dark ‘n’ lovely powder in the way of makeup.

 “Mother fret not, I got this and of course Albert will recognize you even if you grew a pair of horns and an Adam’s apple” Zona said with a hint of laughter and pure joy. She had taken over every bit of making Obiageli into an exquisite bride; she believes herself to be a 'modiste' of some sort and finally the right occasion presented itself; she was going to use her mom to practice. Obiageli wasn’t even bothered in the least; she was going to be Albert’s wife, it was all she ever truly cared for. She could walk down the aisle in a pair of pajamas and a bonnet and everything would still appear perfect to her. She had known that Albert would someday ask her to marry him, his hints where not entirely subtle; when a man develops an interest in the ring finger of his partner, it is either he has plans of buying a ring to fit the finger or he is just a creepy ring finger fetish person. She had in truth expected the proposal but was totally blindsided; all her attention had been channeled towards Zona’s graduation and making arrangements for her travel to ‘Africa’.

Obiageli had treated herself and Zona out to the ice cream place on Wetmoore lane after the graduation ceremony and the reverend had opted to head home ahead of the duo unbeknownst to her he had other plans in mind; a plan that had started within the week, with the help of an all too willing Zona of course. She actually set the plan in motion herself and ensured it was glitch free by creating some deliberate delays here and there from the graduation auditorium to the ice cream place. They had returned home to find the front door unlocked, Obiageli had started to panic fearing the worst when she heard what she would come to believe was the best rendition of  ‘I wanna grow old with you’ she had heard till date coming from the living room. Of course it was Albert, it all started to make sense to her; she knew then the reason Zona wasted so much time in the bathroom at the ice cream place and wouldn’t quit yapping about the fine wedding dresses she had seen on Ashley's copy of vogue the other day.

...The beautiful fairy lights that draped the walls of her living room from top to bottom, the midget candles that were carefully placed on the floor to spell out “will you marry me”, the 'cliché' rose petals scattered around her living room, the 6’5 dimpled reverend playing the ukulele oh so well, the way his voice made her feel, the way he had loved her back to life, the way he adored her ‘Zona’, the way she felt 16 again with him, the way he had made her trust again; it was all she could do not to burst into flames out of excitement. Her heart was heavy; she was overwhelmed and was still taking it all in she didn’t even notice the reverend go down on one knee. “Please be my wife” he said snapping her out of her trance.  She was sure the huge hat ladies of little house Baptist church would eat their hearts out; she swallowed a chuckle and looked down to find the reverend on one knee and a little box that was popped open. “Of course Albert, don’t be silly” she blurted out, trying not to let the impending tears ruin the moment; she wanted – needed to savor every bit of it. 

.... see you soon my darlings...

Foot note: hello and happy new week to my wonderful idoodlers  from around the world(yes, I settled on 'idoodlers' 😏😏). sorry there was no post on the weekend as promised, I am still trynna work out the kinks and establish a pattern  for ijustdoodle so bear with me a little while. I am so grateful for all of you and thankful y'all took a chance on ijustdoodle. pls kindly keep sharing, it is so much appreciated. cant thank you guys enough. Have a splendid week.

Disclaimer: In fact all photos are, and will be from google unless I state otherwise. they have everything in there its Amazingggg!!!!!!

AND THE 'ALBERT' GOES TO...

 Rev. Albert had eventually taken notice of her and they had become friends, wasn’t long till their friendship had developed into something stronger and primarily mutual. Obiageli would come to learn that dating a minister, one who was a cynosure of all eyes old and young alike had its perks. She would come to adopt a selective deafness mechanism that shielded her from endless snide remarks from females who found it hard to concede defeat; some of the females had become less active in church matters, what was the point of donating fresh flowers 8 days a week to the church and not receive so much as a dead plant stem from the reverend, or even a ‘hi’?, some others had in turn become overly active too. Zona joked that those in the latter category were the ones who waited, fasted and prayed that the offending relationship comes to naught; they believed themselves to be next in line to own the priced reverend and would do what it took, including unnecessary and truly ridiculous fluttering of lashes like one who suffered some sort of seizure just on Sundays.

 “Mom is Albert coming; I would love for him to be there if he doesn’t mind at all”. Graduation day was here.  Zona had come to love the 45-years old minister and had returned his fatherly affection when she had asked his permission to go on a date with Joshua. The reverend felt humbled, he knew Zona could date whoever she so chooses but the fact she asked him made him feel welcomed into their little family of two. The reverend was only too happy to oblige, he took it even a step further by inviting Joshua to a church outreach program to get to know him, an act that would show Obiageli that he could be fatherly too when he eventually asked her to marry him.  “Well yes, I think he will be delighted to come” Obiageli said. She was grateful Albert was in their lives; she had been apprehensive at the start of the relationship, she didn’t want another man breaking into their lives and breaking right out. She shuddered to think of what it spelt. She may very well then accept that maybe she just can’t get a man to stay, or maybe it was just her fate. Then again, Albert was no Azuka, not with the not-so-subtle hints he dropped lately about imminent marriage between the two, or with the way he has been nothing short of fatherly towards her beloved Zona. She knew he was in for the long haul, he loved Zona, he respected her and Obiageli had relished the fact that they shared a lot in common including celibacy. She considered herself lucky even though Albert claims to be the lucky one (for in truth, Obiageli was beautiful in every sense of the word, she was kind, she was intelligent and she was celibate). She would hold the priced reverend close to her heart before the huge hat females of little house Baptist church pried him off her hands.

The graduation day came and went. Zona had delivered a speech that was quite riveting; no one expected any less from the elite valedictorian anyway. She was happy she was over and done with it without falling on her face thanks to her mom’s constant ‘thumbs up’ and assuring smile, grin more like. Obiageli had beamed with pride the entire day, but who wouldn’t?

 Zona was excited for the future. She was scared as well. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was left to her own devices, she wasn’t sure if she was prepared enough to meet the world before her, if she was prepared to be apart from her mom. What scared her most was the constant tugging in her heart to find her father, the ineffable yearning for the man. She couldn’t understand why;  for the most part they did just fine without him, but something in her screamed out for her dad like a foghorn. She had finally told her mom of her decision to take the trip to Nigeria at dinner on the day before her graduation and Obiageli couldn’t be more pleased. Obiageli had wanted her daughter to come to the reality of her Nigerian heritage on her own, she had tried her best to teach her the ways of her people when Zona’s inquisitiveness had piqued, she had also prepared some of the native dishes for her with the makeshift ingredients they could find and the leftover ones from the batch Obiageli’s friend had sent to them. Zona had developed an affinity towards Jollof rice and relished the days Obiageli prepared it, she couldn’t boil an egg to save her life though; her mom had tried to get her to even identify a spatula but she had soon dropped the quest. Zona had also learnt a bit of the Igbo language and some phrases from her mom’s ever present relatives.   But in truth, nothing can quite suffice for experience, the logical part of her needed the adventure (she had finally agreed with her mom on that bit) and mostly the little girl in her needed her father. She had many questions. Her head may explode from them if she didn’t get to asking right away.

...till the weekend my darlings.

I hope you are having as much fun reading these as I do writing them. I cannot thank you guys enough. 💫💜💕💓💙💗.

Photo Credit: google is a girl's best friend lol.

ONCE UPON AN ALBERT!

... The days went by in a flash, days into weeks and then months. Zona and her mother were back on an easy peasy speaking terms like the last two months didn’t happen. They had moved on and had focused their energy and attention towards the forth coming senior dance and the graduation. Getting the perfect dress for Zona, the corsage, perfecting her speech, and everything in between, it was a wonder the mother daughter duo still found the time for their weekly orphanage visits. The visits had started when their little house Baptist church had received a new reverend.

   

 Rev. Albert was warm, he laughed quite often or so it would seem to little house parishioners given the amount of grumpy ministers they had had in the past. He emphasized the need for charity especially towards the orphaned and went ahead to tell the congregation his plans to rehabilitate the one in their community. The plans had started swiftly, people – females had come out en masse and had taken up the task and in two months the little house orphanage was set. It was like nothing the church had done in the past, the project was a testimony of what one could achieve if one laughed as often as Rev. Albert did. In all honesty, u could laugh like an idiot and still won’t get the carpenter to nail two ply woods together or a church female folk to remove an offending piece of wire to safety. It wasn’t in the new reverend’s warmth or laughter, or maybe just a little of it, it was entirely in his looks. He was what one would call a ‘beautiful man’. He knew it and wickedly used that little knowledge to get almost anything done in the church; he would be smiling whilst soliciting funding for one project or the other. The more his dimpled cheeks shone, the more purse strings were untied.  But the icing on the cake was that he is – was single at the time, recently bereaved actually.

 Little house Baptist members had dropped a great deal in the past decade save for an occasional surge in number, the people had found other ways to fill their Sundays and the owner of the new bowling alley on sterling drive couldn’t complain because business was great.

 The coming of rev. Albert had seen the Sunday routine in the little town of Eastwood reverse and Sunday was once again synonymous to church, it didn’t take long till the church air was filled with smells of new hats, hair fascinators, shoulder high suits and new shoes. The ladies – single and married alike were all out to impress the new beautiful reverend. Obiageli had found the sudden fan fare of hats and doe eyed females in little house Baptist church altogether a bit annoying. Maybe it was because she had been a consistent ‘church goer’ through frumpy grumpy reverends and outright weird ones and felt she deserved to have the new hunk reverend to herself or perhaps share him with the other few steadfast parishioners. Maybe it was because she had developed a bit of a crush on the beautiful man. She never dated, never allowed herself the luxury and the shenanigans of a relationship, all her time was spent on Echezonachukwu and she was, still is thankful it was all worth it in the end. On occasions, Zona had tried to play the match maker to improve her mom’s dating life; she had well thrown in the towel after the unsuspecting gents she had lined up for her mom all fell short of Obiageli’s specification. The last one chewed too loudly and the one before wouldn’t stop talking about his mother’s cat. It was all she could do to keep from strangling Zona when the unfortunate date dragged to a slow end. But the new reverend presented new prospects; Obiageli found herself wishing the man would ask her for a personal favor, or just her name. She would tell him in a heartbeat and then tell him other things he probably didn’t ask, anything to exchange small talks and hear his Creole infused accent from a range much closer than the pulpit. She may touch one of his dimples if he let her. She had never found herself wanting – needing a man since Azuka,his' was a love that left her weary of men, but for some reasons she would put her index finger into the beautiful reverend’s dimple if the opportunity presented itself.

Till another time, aurevoir my friends (hope I spelt that right, pardon my french, literally).

Appreciation: I can't thank you guys enough my darling idoodlers as u will henceforth be referred to as LOL. Cheesy right? am open to suggestions o as to what we shall be tagged. Thank you immensely for the shares, visits and comments. means the entire world to me and then some.

I LABB YEWW ALL...