Gratitude
I find it particularly exciting how interesting words pop to my mind when i see the “Title” section before i start writing. Typically, i expect to summarise the post in a few words called the “title” but find myself writing that first. So, it’s a bright and shiny Monday afternoon here in Dubai as you’ll see from my screenshots and I’ll be sharing memoirs I documented last week.
MyDiary (June 6–7th 2021)
Sunday Evening: Heading home from the office
Wow, I just had a deja vu moment of “enjoy the moment”. In my previous post, I spoke about meeting an interesting elderly man who drives me to and fro work. Considering it’s only 2 of us in the bus, I sit just behind him and we tend to speak about almost anything.
Just this morning, we were chitchatting about our countries (Nigeria and Pakistan) and asked him when next he planned to go see his family back home. Joyfully, his face lit up as he spoke about his grand-son who lives with his parents back home. He quickly whisked his phone out to show me the latest video of the cute boy and we had a good moment about that. Little did I know that it could be the end of our personal ride.
I closed off work and headed to the bus to catch-up with him. Saw someone inside the bus and wasn’t sure if he was another staff or just relaxing. Turns it out he’s also here to ride the bus as another lady walked in. While I maintained my seat behind him, it’s been all silent so it doesn’t appear like I’m distracting him or he’s not focused on the driving; “how do I let him know I miss our chats”?
Anyway, all these were going on in my mind and I realized the importance of taking advantage of time and opportunity. What if we didn’t get to know ourselves over the last week when it was just both of us in the bus? Now, I have no idea what the subsequent trips will be like but for now, I’m glad to have made a friend in Mr Minarwaz.
End of the trip Sunday Evening
So so, the journey moved on quietly as we all tried to acclimatize as they say. In the previous week, I had enjoyed the privilege of been dropped off just in front of the house and didn’t know what lay ahead. The lady sitting behind spoke up quickly that she would like to drop off at the Metro station we were approaching, which is also my metro station if he wouldn’t drop me at home.
Speedily grabbed my stuff and hurriedly told him I’ll drop off at the same station considering one man was left in the bus and didn’t want to put my friend in an awkward position. It felt quite strange but diverted my attention to the many people on the street as I walked to get the cab. Noticed the bus ahead had a plate number that looked familiar like my friend’s bus and wasn’t sure if he didn’t understand what I said when I hurriedly dropped off and still came over to drop me, or if was another bus. Walked in to the house and moved on from it.
Monday Morning
Having turned on the bed for some time, grabbed my phone to check the time and confirm my alarm was active at the desired time. Like yesterday, it was barely past 5 am and my first alarm was scheduled for 7am to turn the water heater on and enjoy my quiet time. Stayed in bed till I dozed off only to wake up again at past 6am. Just opened the Bible app on my phone and continued my ongoing read of Psalm 119 which talks a lot about meditating on God’s testimonies. Finally got out of bed to the bathroom to get ready for work.
Thankfully got a cab immediately I stepped out of the house and didn’t have to rush or panic. Back to the days when it was only me in the bus, my friend could go around the metro station a few times while waiting for me (as there was no parking space), but didn’t know if anyone else would have gotten on the bus before me and didn’t want to put him in a difficult position whether to wait for me or leave if I wasn’t there.
The cab arrived the metro station just when he was approaching and ran up to meet him in front (speaking of thanksgiving, the cab driver selected cash as the payment method even before asking me and couldn’t switch to card when I told him I had no cash. Apologized for the mix-up and he asked me to go smiling. Don’t know if he did that deliberately but it felt good to be gifted).
Turns out I was the first person to get in and we had a brief chitchat. He mentioned he’ll need to go round the metro station at least once as it was earlier than the designated time to leave. For some uninterrupted time with him, I didn’t mind at all. Didn’t know how to bring the awkwardness from last night up and just kept quiet that it probably didn’t matter. Looking into the mirror, his face lit as he started talking about last night, apologizing that he couldn’t drop me at home and reassured me that I didn’t need to ask him again if it’s only both of us in the bus. Heaved a sigh of relief and smiled as we spoke about it briefly.
Not sure if I should say thankfully but no one else was there and we rode the bus peacefully to the office. It wasn’t as chatty as yesterday, but I felt really good that we could chitchat if we wanted to. Was feeling quite sleepy, so closed my eyes at some point while we spoke about the traffic and multiple ongoing constructions around at other times. We arrived at the office and said our byes to reconnect in the evening.
Wednesday Evening
It’s my last day going to the office with this roaster structure and informed my friend that I wouldn’t be coming in on Thursday or the following week. We had a good chitchat and he dropped me off at home saying “just call me the day before your resume office physically and i’ll be there the next morning”.
PS: It’s Monday afternoon now and I’m still working from home, but it feel grateful reflecting on those moments.
