He Won’t Let Me Be Great

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It is becoming more and more difficult to find time to write and it bothers me. I feel I’ve disappointed a lot of my readers who genuinely enjoy my blog. This is one bad thing about living in the United States; life is so fast and a whole day feels like seconds. Everything is clockwork and by the time you find some spare time to write, your body is shutting down for the day. 

Every bill is due same time every month and when like me you are coming from a place where you might get away with being late on some bills, you practically struggle to fit in. Each time I pay my electric bill, I miss home and how people followed Nepa officials down the road begging them not to “cut their light”. Lol! (I’ve never been able to call them PHCN) I remember how I got back home one afternoon and the kid’s nanny told me that the Nepa officials wanted to disconnect our power but she pleaded with them that her madam would be back soon. 

Vic was out of town and I was so sick and tired of everything falling apart each time he went away and so I was determined to handle that issue myself and afterward, not let him hear the last of it. I started to search frantically for the most current bill but couldn’t find it. When the terrors returned, I engaged them in a dialogue with my nicest voice and even added some phonetics like I was a US returnee, (I always played that with such officials, they would rather leave you alone than struggle to understand you lol). 

I told them that I was so sure that my husband kept the bill and forgot to pay or he had paid but I just couldn’t find the receipt.

They asked me to go to their office down the road to pay in some money while they waited. I went as quickly as I could, paid some money and returned with the receipt. They warned me not to miss on any payment in the future and asked for some cold water. 

I gave them water and also found three bottles of wine for the three of them to take home. Boom! I became their superstar; they gave me their names and phone numbers and asked me to call them if I ever had any issues again. 

As they headed to the gate, I called them back and gave them some change for recharge cards, I was feeling too good and in really high spirits, enjoying the exhilarating effect of giving. 

I couldn't wait to tell Vic that I could finally sort an issue without bothering him. Later that night I spoke to Vic and told him excitedly about my day and my new friends. 

He just laughed after I told him my story which confused me. Then he said, "Baby are you serious that you do not know where we keep the receipts of electric bills?" In my mind, “you and who?”

I began to stammer,  he directed me over the phone to the shelf by the dinning area and asked me to check the very first document and there staring at me was the current receipt, fully paid. 

I felt stupid but I couldn't just accept and so I started to act like a woman. "Why would you hide such important documents, you should keep them where everyone would see them", Vic just said okay. I was still upset and so I told him that I needed to get off the phone. He told me not to beat myself up since that money would still reflect in the next bill. " who's beating herself up, biko I'm not in the mood" I hung up wondering why Victor won't let me be great for once. 

When I hear of men who beat their wives, I find it hard to imagine, the more gentle, caring and understanding a man is, the more attractive he becomes. 

I'll never fail to acknowledge that some women intentionally aggravate their husbands to the point of bringing out the beast in them, but the strength of a man lies in his ability to walk away from such a situation. 

Every man has that beast and I saw Vic"s own one eventful day......., story coming up soon