From rough sketches to a perfect picture.

I am not the type who keeps lots of friends and the few I have are very close to my heart. There is always a beginning to everything in life and I have had quite a lot of funny beginnings with people who turned out to be amazing in my life today.

A lot of my friends are female and that's because they have fewer expectations from me. I have fallen out of different clique of male friends just because I couldn't keep up with them. I have male friends as well and these are people who have things in common with me.

Today, the definition of friendship has been twisted and modified into what suits the kind of relationship we are having with people. We only attach it to people we hang out with, someone we are benefitting from always, and other selfish reasons. For instance, I had more friends when I was working than I do now, and after thinking about it critically, most of the people I called friends weren't really my friend.

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_{Image was designed by me}

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It sounds unbelievable to people when I tell them that I have a friend of 12 years and we haven't met before, it will interest you to know that we both live in Lagos. I once wanted us to meet but something came up and the meeting was canceled.

Despite not meeting her before, she has done things that even people that I call friends haven't done for me. We have been there for each other a lot of time at our convenience and at a point, I had to set a standard of friendship for myself just because of how we look out for one another.

The word friendship is huge for me and I attach a lot of meaning to it. As a friend, I should care for you, your well-being is my priority, I should be able to support you mentally, spiritually, financially, and in any other ways as long as I am capable of doing it, and you should be able to do the same for me as well when there is need for it.

Regarding how my journey started with my friends, I have had funny beginnings, some were simple and there were dramatic ones. I will love to share one of the dramatic ones because we could all learn from it.

Every Thursday we usually have training at work back then and it made me hate Thursdays because I always have to wake up as early as 5 am so that I can be on the road by 6.

The training starts at 7 am and getting there late means a deduction in incentive or conveyance. Every penny meant a lot to me so I wouldn't do anything that would attract a deduction.

On that faithful day, I was stuck in traffic until past 7 am. People who know the route between Ikorodu and Ikeja from about 5 years ago can testify to how much traffic we encounter every day.

I was late and I tried sneaking in but was walked out by this young lady. It was the first time seeing her and I tried explaining my situation but she just snubbed me.

I felt bad because I couldn't figure out why I should be treated like that by anyone in the company. She left me with a bad impression of whoever she was.

The meeting ended and I made my findings about her, I discovered she was an assistant trainer. She was sent by their company to work with our company's permanent trainer that day.

Months passed and she became our permanent trainer. She came for an inspection of my route and I was prepared for her. She gave me her location immediately after she arrived so I went to join her.

On getting there, I noticed she wasn't feeling good. I asked if anything was wrong and she said, "I am fine".

We were about to leave when I noticed that she had a slight stain behind, I called her attention to it and she was shocked.

I quickly gave her my sweater to tie around her waist while we trekked to a female friend's place around the area. She freshened up, washed the stained part, and pressed the skirt to make it dry quickly.

I got her sanitary pads and even got her drugs. She couldn't do the inspection she came for before returning, she claimed that her flow came earlier and she has been feeling uncomfortable on the bus. She offered me money but I turned it down.

She was still forming but it didn't bother me. I called to check up on her after work and it was then she said a proper thank you.

She said "hello" again a few days after and that was how we became friends, we chatted most times after work just to ask, "how was your day and others".

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I was stranded at the office on a particular day, the van I went with couldn't be fixed so I had to go back on public transport but there was nothing on me.

She closed that day and saw me outside the gate.

"Aren't you returning to Ikorodu today", she asked. I replied to her and she squeeze some cash into my hands, I felt ashamed because I so feel terrible to ask for help from people.

She came to my route again and we had lunch after the supervision she came for. I got an invite from her to a family function and I met her mom who somehow liked me.

It was love at first sight for me and her mom, she pampered me at the event and I felt great.

I and her mom became close, she invited me to other events and I couldn't say no because I respected her a lot. She sells cloth at Eko market and I have gotten several clothes as a gift from her.

Today, she is married and we are still very good friends. We don't get to see each other but we still have the interest of one another at heart and care about each other.

Her husband also became my friend, he always threatens her that he was going to report her to me anytime they have a slight disagreement.

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First impression indeed matters and we shouldn't feel unapproachable wherever we find ourselves.

I wouldn't have felt bad if she turned me down politely and who knows that I might be of help to her later?

Our meeting taught me a lot and no matter what position I find myself in, I try to be as friendly as possible because tomorrow is unpredictable.