Honestly, no title. Just my heart.

Somehow, everyone is excited about going home for the holidays. Students are happy because, for the next few weeks, there’ll be no SAPA. In one day at home, they’ll eat what they could have eaten in one week. Happiness full body!“Make I go fat come back.” “Omo, school tough joor. Make I go enjoy life small with my mama.” Good. Fair enough. Happy for you.sniffs. But there’s that one. That one who knows the holiday won’t necessarily feel like a holiday. Not because anything changed about it being a holiday, but because the excitement that comes with it for everyone else is far away from them. Nobody talks about the one going back to a family that can barely afford to feed once a day. No one talks about the one returning to a home that feels more like a jungle than a place of rest, where peace among family members is almost a foreign concept.Nobody talks about the one going back to watch parents fight like children, and somehow, those fights leave wounds on a mind too young to understand them.No one talks about the one returning to an incomplete family because, somewhere along the way, they lost someone. A father.. a mother.. a brother.. a sister.No one talks about the one going home to a family that never stops comparing them with friends who seem to be doing better.“See your mate.” “Your friend is already doing this.”Those words follow them into the night as they drench their pillows with tears no one sees. Then people wonder why the holiday doesn't excite them. And some, without a second thought, say, “Abi them no love you for house?” sniffs. Somehow, please, let's make it easier for people to live. People are going through things, and you have no idea. People cover up a lot of things, and doesn't mean nothing is going on.It is insensitive to ask someone who has just returned from the holidays, “Ah, why you no add small weight? You no dey chop?” Please. Just keep shut.Just. Shut. Your. Mouth!You don't know the struggles that person has just returned from, and returned to. You have no idea how many jobs they juggled while everyone else was enjoying the “holiday,” just so they could struggle through the next academic session. You have no idea how many times they couldn't eat because there was nothing to eat.You have no idea how many times they had to text someone, “Abeg, send me 1k make I use chop.”You don't know how many nights they went to bed hungry. You don't know how many things they had to swallow just to make it through. So, I say this with all pain in my heart, when someone returns from the holiday and they don't look as refreshed, as bigger, as happier, or as excited as you expected... don’t assume. And please, don’t interrogate. Don't make jokes about things you don't understand.Because you may be laughing about someone's weight, while they are silently grateful that they survived the holiday. For some people, school is the place they're trying to escape from, but for others, school is the place where they can finally breathe.

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