''Shortly after the memo went live, I had received hundreds of emails, one after another.
I quickly scanned through playful and friendly good-humoured teasing remarks, the real banters 🤣. There were some rhymes and; punchlines. The swordplay. The wisecracks. The witty one-liners. This has to be an exciting journey in finding someone, a friend maybe 😃!
To hear that the memo beams smiles to blog readers simply made my day. That's the joy money can't buy. I was truly humbled.
What melt my heart was accounts of readers who shared tears reading the memo. A married woman who described how she was in tears. A single lady who perfectly pictured me as a genuine and decent man. She prayed for me and I felt it wholeheartedly. And yet another who has missed how true love feels.
I was elated that, when pictures are well painted in words, as I artistically did, hearts can connect miles away.
I saw the shy ones. The cute ones. Oh, the sweet modest queens!
Meanwhile, there were one or two crummies too. Yea, you guessed right. The creepy without ethics or scruples. Yes, you're spot on. The skanky hahaha 🤣🤣🤣.
But I've got exciting challenge, to quickly filter emails and diffentiate the chafts from wheats. I acknowledged some emails and hoped for some sort of connections, friendly acquaintances while my discerning spirit was fully activated 🤣🤣. And luckily, I had a few.
I became a pen pal to nearly 20 strangers.
While everyone is warm and some conversations were excellent, sadly I can't have spark with everyone and slowly the numbers dropped off.
So, I kept close eyes on three strangers 😗😗😗. The first is a lady whose first email read:
"...if you reply this, we're going to make a beautiful bond..."
"...I'm the girl your mum prays you find..."
I replied "...should mama be given the credit for her prayers yet 🤣🤣...?"
She responded "...give mama all credits already...she deserves it..."
We kept the convo going daily and I started picturing her as a sweet soul. I had insisted I'll be sharing my pics with ONLY one person & will only want to know this person.
One day, she wrote me:
"...what's going to hurt me in all of this is...I won't get to put a face to the poet who responded to my goofy ass silly mail..."
"...when all this is over...I'll beg you profusely for a picture and; God will touch your heart...amen 🙏"
Hysterical, innit? 🤣. These has to be the sweetest lines of all my interactions. She bought me in.
The second lady is attractive. Her name is Queen. I always want to see more pictures of her, so sometimes I offer to write a beautiful piece as a bribe in exchange for pictures.
I'll keep the third lady's details close to my chest.
I'm sapiosetual and I want one too. As each day went by, I was longing for some sort of connections to spot the frontrunner (abeg I've ran out of words 🤣🤣), so this person and I can progress from acquaintances to friends.
And leave the rest in the hand of God, hoping that through friendship, maybe love can happen in an unexpected, most natural and; organic way.
Mum called to find out if I'll be visiting home anytime soon. Ife, my mum's friend daughter, just graduated from Yale and her mum is celebrating her 60th soon. Mum wants to know if I'm keen coming home around the same time so I get the chance to meet Ife.
Mum and Ife's Mum met in hospital ages ago and inspite of their contrast backgrounds, they've kept their friendship for 26 years. Ife's family are well-heeled, we are the opposite.
I'm not particularly a big fan of matchmaking, so I politely rushed off the topic. In an attempt to change the subject, I switched the convo.
"Mum, any chance of visiting Buckingham Palace in the UK soon. Meanwhile, will have time to tell you about Queen 😃😃😃?
"Son, I'll think about it"
"Queen is so pretty. She appears soft-hearted and calm. She has such a sweet nature, like a bunch of sweet-scented flowers. I've to bribe like writing a lovely piece to get pictures"
"Son, which Queen are you talking about?"
"Ah, sorry mum, I mean Her Majesty the Queen of England 🤣🤣🤣"
"When did you start calling her Majesty sweet and giving bribe to get pictures?"
"Ermm erm. Mum, please can I call you back🙄😏🤣?"
Mum sensed I've been up to something lately and jokingly said "bring her home" 😃. I tried to beat her to her game, then I responded cheekily "you mean the Stranger?". She said "yes, they are all strangers at first 😃😃😃".
We had a good laugh as we ended our banter.
"Take care son, call me soon".
"Yes sweet mama but do you mean the girl who emailed me recently and noted herself as the girl my mum prays I find or Queen or the other one?"
"What are you talking about Toks?"
"Nothing mum, bye. I'll call you soon".
I ended the call and exhaled loudly 😃😃😃.
Yours,
MP3.
