There she was sitting in her sitting room holding the DSTV remote and swiping through all the entertainment she could find whispering to herself, “seen, seen, seen” because the shows were all old shows, there was nothing new to watch on weekends, especially when you’ve managed to watch the entire program during the week. She felt lonely and troubled; she slouched and drove back to memory lane, the days when she lived in Lagos and worked. She definitely didn’t have time to watch television, she left home at 6am and got back by 6pm and all she did after that was prepare meal for her kids, have her bath and go to bed.
Her job wasn’t great, she was a dishwasher but it didn’t matter to her. She was busy and earning while at it, although in Lagos she lived with her kids and her husband only visited from Abuja when he had time. Her husband was a rich man, he had contacts with prominent politicians, he took care of the home well enough. Her five kids at the time were enjoying their father’s wealth as much as their mother’s love. One would say it was a perfect family.
Two years after, she was pregnant again. No doubt it was her husband’s child but it brought about the tunnel; he asked her to stop working, he said he could take care of everything like he did. She refused because his business wasn’t quite reliable, sometimes it may stumble and that was when she helped. But he wasn’t ready to hear that, he didn’t want to be the man that was married to a dishwasher in a huge firm, so he threatened to divorce her, she had to give in, she had to quit.
Nine months passed and she had given birth, everything began to crumble, financially and emotionally, like she suspected it would. Her husband was so devastated, he sold his house and told his family they’ll move to Abuja. Again she disagreed, he never let her have her opinion, he would always bring up the marriage card and she would compromise. It’s was her marriage, she didn’t want to be the first Nigerian woman to get a divorce just because her husband told her to quit her job or because he wanted to be with his family in Abuja.
Now, she was sitting in her sitting room and wondering to herself; five years after that fight, all her kids were grown, two stayed in Lagos, four were in Abuja with her, but they were all busy with their phones and other stuff, except the little one who had her own television to watch as much cartoons as she wanted.
She looked at her life right now and realized, she had peace in her home but she was lonely. She gave up her happiness for her family’s peace.
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