Life Is Fleeting.

Image Source.

"Don't take life too seriously because you can never get out of it alive." This quote makes more sense as the days go by. Life is fleeting and within a twinkle of an eye, it can be gone - without warning, without heads up or signal. Just like a flower that has been plucked without nourishment. It glows in the morning and then withers away in a matter of hours. Life sometimes doesn't make sense because you see people toil all their years only to go away without any reward to show for it. They worked from a tender age till old age and before you know it, they are gone.

I understand the value of life at a very tender age. It made no sense to me then and right now, not so much either but I can only hinge it on the spiritual. Losing my only sister when she was just 14 hurts. She never hurt anyone, she never spoke harshly in any way. I am not sure I have ever seen someone as quiet and gentle as her even to date. She smiles so beautifully that your heart would melt at the sight of her but one day, she got sick - which till today I didn't know what happened to her but I heard it was her kidney, which I still don't think it's true.

Losing my dad when I was in my third year at the University was another bitter pill to swallow. These things happened at an unexpected time and I was left in shock as to what is happening. Fear of death gripped me back and I was so scared that I kept suspecting who would be next. Three years after dad's death, my mother followed suit...just when I got my first job as a teacher after the mandatory one year of service by the government. I was just 15 days into the job when she passed on. It was so sudden because I was just with her an hour before and coming back into the house, I saw her struggling. Her blood pressure got the best of her.

I've had my fair share of losing people too whether young or old and I remembered when the doctor told me that our newborn didn't make it out alive despite the operation. It is okay to try to apportion blames so we can feel a bit good about ourselves and I had many questions as to why the doctors delayed before deciding on the operation despite being there as early as 5 am that day. So many questions but still, it wouldn't have changed anything even if the fault was from them. It's never a good thing to lose anyone no matter the age and timing.

Image Source.

I thought the day was over yesterday when I got a call that the driver that works in my wife's company wasn't breathing. She was already asleep and we have a family friend whose driver also sleeps in another small apartment in their house and by the virtue of that, we allowed this new driver that works in my wife's company to squat with their driver. The man has not even worked for a full one month when I got the call yesterday just a few minutes to midnight.

We quickly rushed there with my wife's brother who is a lawyer. He was around so we all rushed down there. We met the driver without any form of movement with drugs and a bottle of concoction surrounding him. I think he has been sick but he has been doing self-medication. He was found in that state the moment the other driver got back into the house around 11 pm after his shift and that was when he raised the alarm.

We got there and quickly bundled him into the car because we heard a sound from him which shows he was still in there, somehow. Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead when we got to the hospital as the doctor came outside to check on him. Just like that. We still spoke with him around past 8 pm when he said he was held up inside the traffic and would be getting to where he was staying anytime soon.

We managed to reach his daughter and a few others including his pastor and you could feel the sadness and shock in their voices. No one wants to lose someone in any way and my heart truly goes to them. The hospital said they can't accept him in their morgue because it wasn't under their watch after hours of waiting and we got referred to another morgue where we waited for a few more minutes too before all the paper works were done. We got back home around 4 am and I didn't sleep until past 5 am.

Got up as early as past 8 am too so we can head to the police station to file a report pending the time the family members can get to Lagos State. We had to pay huge sums again for filing a police report. It was disturbing. We keep paying at every point for wanting to officially state it so that the family can at least get the death certificate from any hospital since he didn't die under any hospital's watch.

The extended and immediate family members came around this morning to claim the body and it was a lengthy discussion but with a reasonable outcome. They said he has an uncompleted building which is still under construction and also two daughters due to get married soon. It broke my heart even more.

Image Source.

This life is fleeting and we need to make the most of it. We need to create as many memories as we can, love as hard as we can and while trying to achieve all these and many more, we need to constantly prioritize our health. Go for a check-up, don't do self-medication when you feel your body is not up to the level you have known it to be and tell your family whatever you are going through because they are the ones who will bear the brunt of the consequences of whatever action or inaction that you take. It hurts to watch him just lying there with how disturbed his family members would also be. Everyone is disturbed but the family would feel this even more.

We spoke with one of his children in the early hours of today and she couldn't control her tears as evident from her voice and her reaction. No one saw it coming...no one ever saw it coming and they have lost someone dear to their heart never to be seen again in this life. They are left with just memories of how things used to be and the last conversation they had with him. There would always be unanswered questions and seeing how confused they are with everyone else and the drugs he had been taking without informing anyone raised even further questions. It's always a tough one to lose anyone no matter the age.

Take care of your health, be open to your family members and create as many memories as you can. Life is fleeting and life happens unexpectedly.

Special shout out to @fantagira for being an amazing being. I was chatting with her yesterday before the incident happened, when the incident happened and even afterwards. Her cares and worries are genuinely touching and her words are soothing. Thank you, Monika. You are a gem and I am glad I found you...as you found me...life connected us.

Thank you for your time.