Feeling Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed Naija Babe, blogger extraordinaire and slayer of lesser mortals, was in Abuja and in Lagos for the Christmas holidays. This Nigerian/Canadian and I, first met and developed an extra-ordinary friendship on the web. She loves me and I love her. That's how best I can put it. We've both survived people slandering us on-line and spreading falsehood, obsessing, the whole works and we're still standing. So she called to say she was in Lagos and could I come get her on time for the bloggers' party.

I drove down and met my friend in technicolour for the first time. 5' 11" of solid womanhood and wearing 4" heels to help her see above the crowd. And then we took a drive to Vicoria Island where the party held.

Then we both noticed something strange. It was as if we'd always known each other, like it wasn't a first meeting. Unlike O.J. Simpson, the glove fitted. We chatted, talked, gossipped, I listened to her throaty laugh, and then we met up with the bloggers who hadn't departed- Omo Alagbede, Unnaked, Tayo and the lovely, lovely Scribe who was also home on holiday from the U.S.

Then everyone went to their cars to go home... and mine wouldn't start. The engine turned but wouldn't come to life. I thought, 'I have Overwhelmed in Lagos with me, in 4" shoes, and this car won't start?'

She stayed calm, I was the agitated one because it was already about 10.30pm. We left the car at the restaurant and walked to Akin Adeshola St to get a taxi and on that journey stopped to buy the suya I'd promised her almost a year earlier and 10minutes later, witnessed a fight between an Odua Peoples Congress member and our taxi driver who also claimed to be OPC. For a girl fresh off the boat from Canda, that was traumatic, but I'll leave ONB herself to tell how she reacted there. (I'm still laughing)

On another day out, we stopped the car by the roadside somewhere in Ebute Meta, engine running, windows wound up, to eat the 'ofada' (unpolished) rice we had purchased earlier. There was palm oil stew everywhere but we managed to pull it off.

Overwhelmed also came to my new office space and mapped out her territory (she gets the room with a view)

She's since returned to Canada and I miss my friend. Thank you, Storm, for being whom I always thought you were.